The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.

Amazon has positioned itself as a technology trendsetter in the industry and relies on that reputation to help drive its grocery business. However, since announcing it would be pulling back Just Walk Out technology from stores, the company has started to lose control of this narrative.

Letting go of Just Walk Out at its U.S. Amazon Fresh stores has spiraled into heightened scrutiny of frictionless checkout technology as a whole. One prominent critique has centered on the company reportedly relying on “invisible” workers in India to help verify Just Walk Out purchases, prompting a response from the company.

“The erroneous reports that Just Walk Out technology relies on human reviewers watching from afar is untrue,” the company said in a recent blog post. “Associates don’t watch live video of shoppers to generate receipts—that’s taken care of automatically by the computer vision algorithms. This is no different than any other AI system that places a high value on accuracy, where human reviewers are common.”

Amazon is working overtime to shift the perception back in its favor, defending its technology and decisions in blog posts and a conversation with retail blog and podcast Omni Talk Retail.

Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president of AWS applications, said in the interview with Omni Talk Retail that Just Walk Out is still a relevant piece of retail technology — even if its time in U.S. grocery stores is coming to an end. It’s currently installed in more than 140 venues globally, and Amazon plans to continue selling the technology to more companies.

Dash Carts, Amazon’s proprietary smart carts, which will become the focus for Amazon Fresh stores in the U.S. and are now being offered to other grocers, provide real-time information customers crave, Kumar said, while Just Walk Out is better suited for quick shopping trips at places like stadiums and airports.

In case you missed it

Kroger teams with TV personality star for home decor

The grocer has linked with Craig Conover, co-founder of Sewing Down South and one of the stars of Bravo’s “Southern Charm,” on a home decor line. The collection, SDS for HD, has more than 40 items including a bamboo handled round tray, beach towels, can koozies, cocktail napkins and tumblers. The line is exclusive to Kroger.

Hearing millennial voices

Ahold Delhaize announced this week it has created an advisory board called NextCo representing the millennial demographic to “make sure the voice of the next generation is represented in the board room.” NextCo, which has six members, will advise the company’s executive committee.

The grocery company said it employs over 400,000 associates, of which 67% are millennials or younger.

How the Kroger-Albertsons deal impacts pharmacy

The Oregon Health Authority has scheduled a public hearing about the proposed mega-merger for Wednesday. At the meeting, the public can share comments and representatives from Kroger and Albertsons will share information and answer questions. OHA staff will also answer questions, according to the agenda. People can register to attend the Zoom event.
OHA has been analyzing how the proposed deal could affect market concentration and access to pharmacy services, including assessing the scale of the transaction and which geographic regions may be impacted.

Number of the week: 100 million

That’s the number of pounds of food Flashfood said this week it has kept from winding up in landfills since the company began its first partnership with a grocery store in February 2017.

What’s ahead

Albertsons earnings

The grocery chain will publish its results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 on Monday.

Impulse find

Ready, set, savings!

The Save Mart Companies last Friday launched its Chase the Savings Sweepstakes at all Save Mart and Lucky locations throughout California and Nevada.

The grocer noted that “every ticket is a winner,” and shoppers have a chance to win $35,000 cash, free groceries, gas for a year and even tickets to the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway this June.

Participating customers will receive a Chase the Savings game ticket when they purchase three specially marked grocery items and can get up to five game tickets per transaction, according to the announcement. Each game ticket reveals an “instant-win prize” and a PIN for a chance to “win big” in the grocer’s new Race to Win online game.

This story was originally published on Grocery Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Grocery Dive newsletter.