What Sources are Saying about How Microsoft and AVA Could be Taking on Amazon

Source:

Microsoft is testing technology that will track what items people pick up while shopping, and another Redmond company is working with Microsoft on the technology for physical stores, news services reported.

Microsoft may be gearing up to challenge Amazon on its home turf — the world of retail shopping — by developing cashier-less technology for grocery stores.

Six people told Reuters news service that the Redmond software company is testing technology that will track what items people pick up while shopping, something that could eliminate or reduce the need for cashiers.

Redmond-based AVA Retail, which develops technology to collect data about shoppers in stores, also told The Associated Press it is working with Microsoft on the technology for physical stores.

Amazon’s convenience store that uses cashier-less technology, Amazon Go, opened to the public in Seattle in January.

That store requires shoppers to swipe an app when they walk in, then uses computer-vision technology to track them and their purchases around the store. When people are done shopping, they can walk out and are charged through the Amazon app.

Amazon could sell that technology to other retailers. But a competing technology from Microsoft could be an attractive option because retailers might see Microsoft as less of a competitive threat than Amazon.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment.

Microsoft’s interest in the technology is hardly a secret. Microsoft for years has operated a Retail Experience Center from a nondescript building near its Redmond headquarters campus, meant as a showcase for Microsoft products as well as an experimental environment for the company’s business-sales groups to try out emerging technologies and show them to potential customers.

During a media tour in 2015, Microsoft showed how a big-box electronics store could keep track of where customers were and what items they were looking at or picking up by using technology borrowed from Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor.

A tour of the same Microsoft retail facility in 2016 showed Bluetooth beacons that could track customers’ movement, Redmond Magazine reported. At the time, the company was partnering with AVA Retail to pinpoint what a shopper was reaching for on a shelf.

AVA Retail CEO Atul Hirpara said Thursday that the company is using Microsoft’s Azure cloud to develop technology that will enable stores to have a clerk-less checkout experience. AVA’s technology could roll out in the next six to eight months, he said.

The company plans to co-sell the product with Microsoft, but the clerkless techology is owned by AVA, Hirpara said.

Reuters reported that Microsoft’s technology could be getting closer to deploying in stores. Microsoft could be in talks with Amazon rival Walmart, Reuters’ sources said.

AVA’s Hirpara declined to disclose if his company has any ongoing talks with Walmart.

Microsoft looks to compete with Amazon with cashier-less stores

Source:

Microsoft is working on automated checkout technology that could help retailers compete with Amazon’s new cashier-less stores.

One firm building automated checkout systems, Ava Retail, said Thursday it is working with Microsoft on the technology for physical stores. Both companies have headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Ava Retail CEO Atul Hirpara said Microsoft could become a leader in the field because it has a strong cloud computing platform. That technology would power the retail system by pulling in data from in-store cameras or sensors.

Amazon opened its first cashier-less Amazon Go store in Seattle this year and plans more locations in Chicago and San Francisco. Overhead cameras and other technology help keep track of customers and what they're buying.

Microsoft's interest in working with retailers on similar technology was reported earlier by Reuters. It remains unclear how far along Microsoft is in the project. The report of its involvement didn't surprise others in the fast-growing automated checkout industry.

Michael Suswal, co-founder of San Francisco-based startup Standard Cognition, said Microsoft has the teams capable of developing the software and the infrastructure needed to deploy it broadly.

Suswal said his firm is also working with retailers — but not currently with Microsoft — on its own automated checkout system using overhead cameras.

"Within five years, everyone in the country will have visited an autonomous checkout store," Suswal said.

Microsoft follows Amazon in pursuit of cashier-less stores

Source:

Microsoft is working on automated checkout technology that could help retailers compete with Amazon’s new cashier-less stores.

One firm building automated checkout systems, Ava Retail, said Thursday it is working with Microsoft on the technology for physical stores. Both companies have headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Ava Retail CEO Atul Hirpara said Microsoft could become a leader in the field because it has a strong cloud computing platform. That technology would power the retail system by pulling in data from in-store cameras or sensors.

Amazon opened its first cashier-less Amazon Go store in Seattle this year and plans more locations in Chicago and San Francisco. Overhead cameras and other technology help keep track of customers and what they're buying.

Microsoft’s interest in working with retailers on similar technology was reported earlier by Reuters. It remains unclear how far along Microsoft is in the project. The report of its involvement didn’t surprise others in the fast-growing automated checkout industry.

Michael Suswal, co-founder of San Francisco-based startup Standard Cognition, said Microsoft has the teams capable of developing the software and the infrastructure needed to deploy it broadly.

Suswal said his firm is also working with retailers — but not currently with Microsoft — on its own automated checkout system using overhead cameras.

“Within five years, everyone in the country will have visited an autonomous checkout store,” Suswal said.

Microsoft follows Amazon in pursuit of cashier-less stores

Source:

Microsoft is working on automated checkout technology that could help retailers compete with Amazon’s new cashier-less stores.

One firm building automated checkout systems, Ava Retail, said Thursday it is working with Microsoft on the technology for physical stores. Both companies have headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Ava Retail CEO Atul Hirpara said Microsoft could become a leader in the field because it has a strong cloud computing platform. That technology would power the retail system by pulling in data from in-store cameras or sensors.

Amazon opened its first cashier-less Amazon Go store in Seattle this year and plans more locations in Chicago and San Francisco. Overhead cameras and other technology help keep track of customers and what they’re buying.

Microsoft’s interest in working with retailers on similar technology was reported earlier by Reuters. It remains unclear how far along Microsoft is in the project. The report of its involvement didn’t surprise others in the fast-growing automated checkout industry.

Michael Suswal, co-founder of San Francisco-based startup Standard Cognition, said Microsoft has the teams capable of developing the software and the infrastructure needed to deploy it broadly.

Suswal said his firm is also working with retailers — but not currently with Microsoft — on its own automated checkout system using overhead cameras.

“Within five years, everyone in the country will have visited an autonomous checkout store,” Suswal said.

Exclusive: Microsoft takes aim at Amazon with push for checkout-free retail

Source:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in a nascent challenge to Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) automated grocery shop, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts, the people say. Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has had talks with Walmart Inc (WMT.N) about a potential collaboration, three of the people said.

Microsoft’s technology aims to help retailers keep pace with Amazon Go, a highly automated store that opened to the public in Seattle in January. Amazon customers scan their smartphones at a turnstile to enter. Cameras and sensors identify what they remove from the shelves. When customers are finished shopping, they simply leave the store and Amazon bills their credit cards on file.

Amazon Go, which will soon open in Chicago and San Francisco, has sent rivals scrambling to prepare for yet another disruption by the world’s biggest online retailer. Some have tested programs where customers scan and bag each item as they shop, with mixed results.

For Microsoft, becoming a strategic ally to retailers has meant big business. In addition to developing retail technologies, it ranks No. 2 behind Amazon in selling cloud services that are key to running e-commerce sites, for instance.

It is not clear how soon Microsoft would bring an automated checkout service to market, if at all, or whether its technology would be the answer retailers are looking for. But some see the technology as the next big innovation in shopping, one that Amazon’s competitors cannot afford to ignore.

“This is the future of checking out for convenience and grocery stores,” said Gene Munster, head of research at Loup Ventures in Minneapolis. The venture capital firm estimates the U.S. market for automated checkout is worth $50 billion. Cashier is one of the most commonly held jobs in the United States.

Microsoft said it “does not comment on rumors or speculation.” Walmart and Amazon declined to comment.

● EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT

Microsoft’s effort to date has largely fallen under its Business AI, or artificial intelligence, team, one person said. A group consisting of 10 to 15 people has worked on a host of retail store technologies, and they have presented some of their efforts in front of CEO Satya Nadella, the person said.

In a meeting with the team several months ago, Nadella recommended an “intelligent edge” device that could manage connected gadgets such as cameras on site with minimum data transfers to the cloud, which would cut down on costs, said the person.

Making its technology cheap enough so it does not eviscerate grocers’ already thin profit margins is a major challenge for Microsoft, another person said.

Microsoft already showcases the basics for automated checkout at its Retail Experience Center in Redmond. It has half a dozen partners, including Redmond-based AVA Retail, that are building their own checkout-free or related services atop Microsoft’s cloud, some of the people said. Sales of partners’ services result in cloud revenue for Microsoft, along with insight into the market for new retail technologies.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s internal team, including a computer vision specialist hired from Amazon Go, has worked on attaching cameras to shopping carts to track customers’ items. And it has studied novel ways for smartphones to play a role in the shopping experience, people said. Still, the industry is playing catch-up to Amazon.

The company spent four years building Amazon Go in secret, before launching an employee-only pilot on its Seattle campus in 2016. It collected data for nearly 14 months more before opening the doors to its first Seattle store. Amazon has said it has no plans to introduce checkout-free technology to its Whole Foods Market grocery chain, which it acquired last year.

The company is still hard at work improving the service. Amazon Vice President Dilip Kumar told Reuters in an interview earlier this year that the company is training computers to identify items or activities with as little information as possible. “It’s a really hard problem,” said Scott Jacobson, managing director of Madrona Venture Group, adding it’s “one that Amazon is uniquely positioned to solve.”

Microsoft could be aiming at Amazon with its own push for checkout-free retail

Source:

• Microsoft is reportedly working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in an early challenge to Amazon's automated grocery shop, Amazon Go.

• Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has had talks with Walmart about a potential collaboration, according to sources.

• Amazon Go, which will soon open in Chicago and San Francisco, has sent rivals scrambling to prepare for yet another disruption by the world's biggest online retailer.

• Microsoft said it "does not comment on rumors or speculation." Walmart and Amazon declined to comment.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in a nascent challenge to Amazon's automated grocery shop, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts, the people say. Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has had talks with Walmart about a potential collaboration, three of the people said.

Microsoft's technology aims to help retailers keep pace with Amazon Go, a highly automated store that opened to the public in Seattle in January. Amazon customers scan their smartphones at a turnstile to enter. Cameras and sensors identify what they remove from the shelves. When customers are finished shopping, they simply leave the store and Amazon bills their credit cards on file.

Amazon Go, which will soon open in Chicago and San Francisco, has sent rivals scrambling to prepare for yet another disruption by the world's biggest online retailer. Some have tested programs where customers scan and bag each item as they shop, with mixed results.

For Microsoft, becoming a strategic ally to retailers has meant big business. In addition to developing retail technologies, it ranks No. 2 behind Amazon in selling cloud services that are key to running e-commerce sites, for instance.

It is not clear how soon Microsoft would bring an automated checkout service to market, if at all, or whether its technology would be the answer retailers are looking for. But some see the technology as the next big innovation in shopping, one that Amazon's competitors cannot afford to ignore.

"This is the future of checking out for convenience and grocery stores," said Gene Munster, head of research at Loup Ventures in Minneapolis. The venture capital firm estimates the U.S. market for automated checkout is worth $50 billion. Cashier is one of the most commonly held jobs in the United States.

Microsoft said it "does not comment on rumors or speculation." Walmart and Amazon declined to comment.

● Expensive equipment

Microsoft's effort to date has largely fallen under its Business AI, or artificial intelligence, team, one person said. A group consisting of 10 to 15 people has worked on a host of retail store technologies, and they have presented some of their efforts in front of CEO Satya Nadella, the person said.

In a meeting with the team several months ago, Nadella recommended an "intelligent edge" device that could manage connected gadgets such as cameras on site with minimum data transfers to the cloud, which would cut down on costs, said the person.

Making its technology cheap enough so it does not eviscerate grocers' already thin profit margins is a major challenge for Microsoft, another person said.

Microsoft already showcases the basics for automated checkout at its Retail Experience Center in Redmond.

It has half a dozen partners, including Redmond-based AVA Retail, that are building their own checkout-free or related services atop Microsoft's cloud, some of the people said. Sales of partners' services result in cloud revenue for Microsoft, along with insight into the market for new retail technologies.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's internal team, including a computer vision specialist hired from Amazon Go, has worked on attaching cameras to shopping carts to track customers' items. And it has studied novel ways for smartphones to play a role in the shopping experience, people said.

Still, the industry is playing catch-up to Amazon.

The company spent four years building Amazon Go in secret, before launching an employee-only pilot on its Seattle campus in 2016. It collected data for nearly 14 months more before opening the doors to its first Seattle store. Amazon has said it has no plans to introduce checkout-free technology to its Whole Foods Market grocery chain, which it acquired last year.

The company is still hard at work improving the service. Amazon Vice President Dilip Kumar told Reuters in an interview earlier this year that the company is training computers to identify items or activities with as little information as possible.

"It's a really hard problem," said Scott Jacobson, managing director of Madrona Venture Group, adding it's "one that Amazon is uniquely positioned to solve."

Microsoft is working on a way to track what shoppers add to their carts as it takes on Amazon Go

Source:

• Microsoft is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores.

• It would be a nascent challenge to Amazon.com's automated grocery shop.

• The Redmond, Washington-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts.

Microsoft is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in a nascent challenge to Amazon.com's automated grocery shop, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts, the people say. Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has had talks with Walmart about a potential collaboration, three of the people said.

Microsoft's technology aims to help retailers keep pace with Amazon Go, a highly automated store that opened to the public in Seattle in January. Amazon customers scan their smartphones at a turnstile to enter. Cameras and sensors identify what they remove from the shelves. When customers are finished shopping, they simply leave the store and Amazon bills their credit cards on file.

Amazon Go, which will soon open in Chicago and San Francisco, has sent rivals scrambling to prepare for yet another disruption by the world's biggest online retailer. Some have tested programs where customers scan and bag each item as they shop, with mixed results.

For Microsoft, becoming a strategic ally to retailers has meant big business. In addition to developing retail technologies, it ranks No. 2 behind Amazon in selling cloud services that are key to running e-commerce sites, for instance.

It is not clear how soon Microsoft would bring an automated checkout service to market, if at all, or whether its technology would be the answer retailers are looking for. But some see the technology as the next big innovation in shopping, one that Amazon's competitors cannot afford to ignore.

"This is the future of checking out for convenience and grocery stores," said Gene Munster, head of research at Loup Ventures in Minneapolis. The venture capital firm estimates the U.S. market for automated checkout is worth $50 billion. Cashier is one of the most commonly held jobs in the United States.

Microsoft said it "does not comment on rumors or speculation." Walmart and Amazon declined to comment.

● Expensive equipment

Microsoft's effort to date has largely fallen under its Business A.I., or artificial intelligence, team, one person said. A group consisting of 10 to 15 people has worked on a host of retail store technologies, and they have presented some of their efforts in front of CEO Satya Nadella, the person said.

In a meeting with the team several months ago, Nadella recommended an "intelligent edge" device that could manage connected gadgets such as cameras on site with minimum data transfers to the cloud, which would cut down on costs, said the person.

Making its technology cheap enough so it does not eviscerate grocers' already thin profit margins is a major challenge for Microsoft, another person said.

Microsoft already showcases the basics for automated checkout at its Retail Experience Center in Redmond.

It has half a dozen partners, including Redmond-based AVA Retail, that are building their own checkout-free or related services atop Microsoft’s cloud, some of the people said. Sales of partners’ services result in cloud revenue for Microsoft, along with insight into the market for new retail technologies.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's internal team, including a computer vision specialist hired from Amazon Go, has worked on attaching cameras to shopping carts to track customers' items. And it has studied novel ways for smartphones to play a role in the shopping experience, people said.

Still, the industry is playing catch-up to Amazon.

The company spent four years building Amazon Go in secret, before launching an employee-only pilot on its Seattle campus in 2016. It collected data for nearly 14 months more before opening the doors to its first Seattle store. Amazon has said it has no plans to introduce checkout-free technology to its Whole Foods Market grocery chain, which it acquired last year.

The company is still hard at work improving the service. Amazon Vice President Dilip Kumar told Reuters in an interview earlier this year that the company is training computers to identify items or activities with as little information as possible.

"It's a really hard problem," said Scott Jacobson, managing director of Madrona Venture Group, adding it's "one that Amazon is uniquely positioned to solve."