Six Flags has reportedly become the first theme park offering Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology.
The pilot program, set to launch next month at the amusement park operator’s New Jersey location, comes as consumers are increasingly seeking frictionless checkout experiences.
In this case, that will mean less time spent waiting to buy food and drinks, Stephanie Borges, global vice president, strategic marketing and partnership at Six Flags Entertainment, told Modern Retail Tuesday (May 30).
“We always look [at] how can we use technology and innovation to enhance the guest experience,” said Borges. “We look holistically at a consumer coming to our parks and all the different things that they’re doing on that day and one of the pain points is always lines.”
The collaboration is part of a joint effort by Six Flags, Amazon and Coca-Cola, the report said. Rachel Chahal, Coca-Cola’s director of amusement and entertainment partnerships, said the beverage giant hopes the collaboration will boost retail sales per visitor by 10%.
“If we hit those numbers, then we will be able to implement the technology in other parks and ultimately replace all the vending machines,” Chahal said.
Just Walk Out will be available at a 400-square foot “Quick Fix” store inside of Six Flags, where visitors can buy drinks, food and branded park merchandise. Shoppers enter a payment method to enter the store, and will be charged automatically, removing the need for checkout.
The news follows last week’s announcement that Amazon was integrating age verification into its Amazon One palm payment technology to reduce friction during alcohol purchases at Just Walk Out locations.
As noted here at the time, payment systems that make purchasing more frictionless are in high demand among a range of retailers.
Research from the PYMNTS/ACI Worldwide collaboration, “Big Retail’s Innovation Mandate: Convenience and Personalization,” found that merchants see payment and checkout technology as crucial to maintaining shopper loyalty.
More than 75% reported they believed that consumers would be very or extremely likely to shop elsewhere if alternative in-store payment methods were not provided, and 51% said the same thing about self-service kiosks.
However, it may some time before frictionless checkout becomes the norm, as Jordan Fisher, CEO of autonomous retail technology company Standard AI, told PYMNTS earlier this year.
“It takes time for shoppers to learn new shopping behaviors,” he said. “Self-checkout’s been around for 10-plus years. We’re now finally starting to see really good shopper adoption.”
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