4 ms·

Counterpoint... is Amazon Go really that difficult to build? If given three years, do you not think a different software company can build a similar system as w

• cercatrova 9y ago
  Sure but scope is required in order to create the monopoly, which only Amazon has currently. They can distribute to a thousand stores at once, and a startup competitor will not be able to compete, especially because the switching cost is so high for a customer like Target since it's hardware instead of the traditional software model. If everyone is using Amazon Go, then the network effect is established and shoppers won't download a separate app for something else.
• dx034 9y ago
  Same with AWS. First they were the only ones, now they seem to lose market share to Google and Microsoft. Amazon doesn't have a monopoly in any of their businesses, they're just very successful in a lot of them.
• ranman 9y ago
  I work for AWS but no relation to the go store, opinions are my own: but I'd argue it's non trivial to build this system. I don't think you could automate an entire store without a few million in funding and a couple of people. It's not a solo project and it's not a cheap one. Like self driving you can get to 95% really fast with relatively little effort. To go from 95% to 99.99%? That's where you spend your 3 years.