The Seattle-based online retailer, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), is preparing to launch a brick-and-mortar store which will be free of check-out lines. Amazon’s brick-and-mortar store, named Amazon Go, will also not have cash registers. All that the customers will require is a mobile app called Amazon Go. Currently, the store is in the testing phase and is only open to Amazon employees. It is expected to be opened to the public in the early months of 2017.

Just walk out

The Amazon Go store employs Amazon’s ‘just walk out’ technology, which only requires shoppers to have their smartphones with them when they walk into the store. As the shoppers pick products from the shelves, the just walk out technology detects and keeps track. When a shopper is done, and is leaving the store, the technology then bills the total amount spent on the shopper’s Amazon account. The technology uses a combination of artificial intelligence, computer vision and other technologies commonly found in driverless cars.

An Amazon employee who participated in the testing phase of the new concept enjoyed the convenience it offered.

“I got some lunch, some cookies and some cereal. It’s really convenient for these urban settings. You can just walk in, pick a few things up and walk out,” an employee of Amazon told a Seattle-based television station while estimating to have saved about 15 minutes vis-à-vis shopping at a traditional store.

Fast moving perishables

Amazon’s grab and go store occupies 1,800-square feet of space and mostly stocks fast moving groceries. Among the products available include ready meals such as fresh snacks, dinner, breakfast, and lunch. Grocery staples such as milk, bread, cheese, and confectionaries will also be available. The products will be from well-known brands as well as some from artisanal merchants. Amazon Meal Kits, an assortment of ingredients needed to prepare a meal for two in under half an hour, will also be stocked. While the grab and go grocery store is in the testing stages, Amazon has already launched brick-and-mortar bookstores in several US cities.

Amazon ended 2.57% up on Monday to settle at $759.36 a share.