Whole Foods Just Opened Its First Grab-And-Go Location
It's no secret that Whole Foods runs on the energy of its many health-conscious customers and the latest technology. Though the supermarket chain was acquired by tech behemoth Amazon in 2017, per CNBC, Whole Foods was already a pioneer in utilizing digital retail strategies in the grocery industry.
According to Harvard Business School, as early as 2014, Whole Foods was already using technology to cater to consumer preferences. As their customers began shopping more online in the 2010s, the grocer partnered with Instacart to ensure customers would have their orders delivered within an hour. The success of its online order-and-delivery system resulted in the grocer offering the Instacart service to 16 cities in 60 stores by 2015. Since then, Whole Foods continues to innovate to meet customers' needs.
With hustle culture being so prevalent in today's world, Whole Foods just debuted the perfect grab-and-go technology in a new Washington, D.C. store, making it an ideal location to cater to busy, young professionals.
A faster and easier way of checking out
Whole Foods' first grab-and-go location opened on February 23 in the primarily residential Glover Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. (via MSN). The unique technology specific to this location is the "Just Walk Out" feature, which entails scanners scattered throughout the store that tracks the balance of each customer's basket. All patrons need to do is scan a code on their phone before and after they leave the store, and they will be sent an email of their receipt for items they paid for — without having to use a traditional checkout line with cashiers, which makes the shopping experience for customers ideally quick and painless.
A self-checkout option will be available for customers, however, and will be staffed by Whole Foods employees. That said, customers will have to bag their own groceries. The chain will also be bringing another "Just Walk Out" store to Sherman Oaks, California later this year.