What Is Frictionless Engagement? Who's Doing It? And Why?

The year-ago launch of Amazon Go, a cashierless store that allows Amazon Prime members to select food and other merchandise from a shelf and walk out of the store without stopping at a checkout stand, has prompted a growing roster of convenience store chains to implement app-based, self-scanning payment solutions. The reason, similar to Amazon’s, is to provide shoppers with a frictionless checkout experience and allow the retailer to better deploy resources to other tasks in the store.

Frictionless engagement is now a competitive imperative for convenience store retailers. Several chains, including Cruizers in North Carolina, Ricker’s and Family Express in Indiana, Parker’s and Enmarket in Georgia, as well as c-store giant 7-Eleven are testing some type of frictionless checkout at their stores. 

Read Part One of Convenience Store News' special series on Frictionless Engagement.