IoT Sensors and AWS: Enhancing Fan Experience at the O2
If you’ve been to a live music gig at any venue, let alone a large arena, you will be familiar with the need to queue. Queuing is not only inconvenient and time-consuming for concert-goers, but also puts pressure on staff working at a venue to deliver an efficient and comfortable service for concertgoers.
In considering this, Amazon has been eager to solve the issue of queueing at the O2 Arena in London with the debut of a new Just Walk Out store. The store has been developed as part of a partnership between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the O2, in addition to the venue’s catering organisation Levy, and global financial technology platform, Adyen.
Powered by IoT sensors and generative AI (Gen AI) technology, Just Walk Out stores enable customers to tap their card or mobile wallet to obtain their chosen refreshments, enabling them to return to their seats quickly to avoid missing parts of the show they are attending.
AWS aims to use the technology to triple the number of third-party stores across the UK in 2024, suggesting that its store within the O2 Arena is just the start. Here, Technology Magazine spoke with leading executives overseeing the project on what they believe the impact of the technology will have on its customer base.
“Is that it?” Just Walk Out stores, explained.
The store within the O2 Arena was first launched in July 2024, with the second set to open in October 2024. A world-famous live entertainment venue, it is also the first indoor arena in England to use Just Walk Out technology.
Some of the benefits afforded by Just Walk Out include increased throughput, extended store operating hours, optimised staffing and reduced theft.
“We saw the Just Walk Out technology in the US a few years ago and we knew instantly we wanted to bring it here to the UK – to The O2 in particular as the world's number one arena,” says Adam Pearson, Commercial Director at The O2. “Finding a way to deliver the frictionless camera technology, alongside being able to pour the volume of pints we need and allow people to, has been a major source of investment and time and energy from the companies involved in this project.”
With the store boasting technology and speed, it has the capabilities to serve thousands of people at an event. Its purpose is to prevent queues and allow the venue to serve people much quicker than traditional transactions.
The store has multi-dispense units (MDUs) that pour trays of 12 pints at a time, loading the trays up to the front counter and picked up by the camera. Investing in this technology allows the O2 venue to free up staff to deal with customers and focus on their role, as opposed to a traditional bar.
Payment is also taken care of up front by the camera technology so all the consumer has to do is browse and help themselves to what they want.
“We are designing and working on what the sort of future stores will look like. We have every intention of rolling out multiple stores over the next few years,” Adam notes.
Steve Gurney, Worldwide Head of Retail Industry at AWS, adds: “One of the first stores we opened is at the Lumen Field in Seattle. Having opened up their store in September 2022, they're now up to nine stores. You tend to have multiple stores per location.
“For us in the UK, we're going to be over a dozen stores that are third-party Just Walk Out stores. That number is triple the amount we had here last year. So it's only at the beginning, but equally, it's growing very fast.
Whilst standing in the store, Technology Magazine noted that customers found the shopping experience of Just Walk Out simple. However, those not accustomed to more digitally-led stores may require more education, as Adam explains.
“We will get better at communicating to fans in advance as we get more used to it,” he says. “People come to The O2 on average just over once a year for a show. Ultimately, as we build other venues and locations, it will just become a thing where people are much clearer about what it is.
“I'm sure that the UK market will get wise to exactly how the tech works soon enough.”
AI and IoT boosting customer experience
With AWS born out of retail, the idea was to offer technology solutions to third-party companies. Its cloud-native services act as the core platform for Just Walk Out, with its portable technology allowing multiple use cases.
The Just Walk Out store technology uses a network of advanced IoT sensors, Gen AI and computer vision throughout the store to track customers and items. It is able to distinguish shoppers from one another without collecting or using any biometric information, identifying what items they pick up as they shop, before adding the item to the customer’s virtual basket and eliminating the checkout process.
“We're aggregating all of the paths that the customer takes through the store,” Steve says. “We have to assess every movement of every customer, what product they're taking, identifying that product and then adding it to the basket and identifying it correctly. We're constantly developing that technology and improving the cameras.
He adds: “The AI algorithms used have also been improved and we use supervised data to predict different ways a customer can shop in a store, especially when you've got people reaching over others in a busy environment.”
The technology is also very adaptable, with the O2 being able to change the product mix and positioning in the store. Staff working at the venue can see clearly what products to add more or less depending on how well they sell.
“We’ve already changed our water displays based on how much we’ve sold this week, for example,” Adam notes.
There are already 160 third-party locations using the technology - a figure that has doubled from last year, according to Steve.
“It’s growing and building momentum, so the rate of store openings is much higher than previously and that continues to take place,” he says. “We now see customers opening multiple stores in a single location and that's going to increase here as well.”
Humans and AI: The future of retail
The role of people amid AI’s rapid development has been subject to much conversation. However, as far as The O2 is concerned, its staff aren’t going anywhere.
Despite increased use of AI and data, the human element remains in this retail environment. For instance, when it comes to age-restricted products, the O2 Arena still has staff in place to enforce the ‘Challenge 25’ drinking policy in the UK.
“We have a human element to some of the ways that products have to leave the store. For certain shows here, you can't have the bottle tops on,” Adam explains. “Staff will ‘Challenge 25’ on entrance and then remove bottle tops upon exit.”
When Technology Magazine asked if the human element would remain crucial to future stores, Adam explained: “There will always be a human element to the way this technology gets deployed and the way that your experience in a venue like The O2 works.
“Exactly what that human role is and how it evolves and develops depending upon how the technology gets used, might adapt, but it's not about removing the human from the overall process. It's about adapting the need for that human and what they do and their role within the overall store. It also allows us to free up labour elsewhere within the building.”
Given that The O2 hosts between 200 and 220 shows a year, it enables the venue to collect a significant amount of data on its customers. “The beauty of having this technology, in addition to all of the data that we have, is that we can cater our offering perfectly to an audience based on what we know that they're going to want,” Adam says.
“Where we've just literally opened the Just Walk Out store, we've already made changes to the product offering, including the pricing and screen use. As a result, we're able to iterate and adapt as we go, which is great for the customer because they get the product they want and they get it faster.”
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