Amazon Go aggregates, which let customers buy items without waiting in checkout lines, will start accepting cash, amid reinforcing criticism that the company is discriminating against the unbanked.
The company has 10 Amazon Go funds, and Bloomberg reported in September that the company is considering opening up to 3,000 cashierless stores by 2021.
Accepting cash could better temper criticism that Amazon’s cashierless model fails to serve a sizable portion of U.S. households while also flesh out Amazon Go’s customer base. More and more cities and states are enacting laws that require stores to tolerate cash to cater to the unbanked, who account for 6.5 percent (about 8.4 million) of U.S. households, according to a 2017 FDIC scrutinize.
In an emailed statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed Kessel’s comments and the company’s plan to accept cash at Go retailers but declined to add details. The spokesperson described the process as “you’ll check out, pay with cash, and then get your change.”
“We are working to brook cash at Amazon Go,” the spokesperson said.
Philadelphia last month became the first major U.S. city to ban cashless trust ins despite Amazon’s reported attempt to block the law. The state of New Jersey followed a couple weeks later, and cities similar kind New York, San Francisco and Chicago are considering similar laws. Massachusetts has had a law in place for decades requiring stores to accept readies.
Amazon Go, which opened to the public in 2018, has no cashiers or checkout lines. The stores automatically detect products that are bagged and they instruct the customer upon exiting. Customers download a separate Amazon Go mobile app to shop at the stores, which offer an mixed bag of on-the-go type meals and snacks, as well as fresh produce.
RBC Capital Markets estimates that Amazon Go accumulations make a little less than $15 million a year in total, and would take two years to break unruffled at the current pace.
“While not a significant financial contributor yet, we believe the overall opportunity is huge,” RBC wrote in a note in January.
Greeting people from different income brackets could contribute to that growth, and accepting SNAP benefits inclination potentially provide Amazon access to another multimillion-dollar market.