San Francisco (AFP)
Amazon announced Tuesday that it has launched a grocery cart, which allows customers to avoid queues at the checkout.
Amazon's latest innovation for cashless shopping comes as merchants strive to continue their business while reducing the risk of contamination with the new coronavirus.
Dash Carts, which uses built-in sensors and cameras to read product prices, will make its debut at an Amazon grocery store due to open in southern California later this year.
"It is a smart cart that makes shopping very quick by avoiding queuing at the checkout," said the American giant who owns the Whole Foods chain of stores.
"When you're done shopping, you just go out through the Amazon Dash Cart lane, and the invoice is emailed to you," he added.
To use such a basket, the buyer needs a smartphone on which he must install the Amazon application which scans the QR code of the products and then charges the amount of the shopping on the credit card, the company explained.
Earlier this year, Amazon began offering its "just walk out" technology to other merchants to encourage the use of the cashless system.
"Just Walk Out technology allows customers to just walk into the store, take what they want and leave," said Amazon.
Amazon has already opened more than 20 Amazon Go convenience stores using this system in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
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