Amazon opens a cashier-less supermarket — but it's more interested in the tech than the groceries

Literally "grab-and-go"... Amazon opened a checkout-free grocery in Seattle Tuesday, its biggest "Go" store yet. As you cruise the aisles and squeeze-test avocados, shelf-sensors and cameras stalk your every move (no more "sampling" the nuts section). You grab your favorite rosé, walk out, and see the $10 charge on your Amazon app:

• Go Big: Amazon has opened 25 Go stores over the past 2 years — but this supermarket is 5x bigger than its largest Go store.
• Or Go Home: Go's VP said this improved tech can be deployed on an even larger scale — "There's no real upper bound."
• But: Sales at the first batch of Go stores actually declined in 2019 from the year before.

Go's true ambitions lie beyond grocery... Amazon is using this huge Go store as a showcase for its customer-stalking, product-tracking tech, which it will likely start selling to other businesses. It's reportedly talked already with potential partners like airport convenience stores (snatch that Kind Bar while sprinting to Gate E14) and sports arenas (grab the Cracker Jack without missing an at bat).

• "Go as a Service": Amazon might offer GaaS (not actually called that) to retail companies that want Amazon's tech in their own stores.
• Question is: Will Amazon's retail competitors be down to partner with their #1 rival? Walmart almost certainly won't.