In January 2018, Amazon opened its first cashier-less convenience store, called Amazon Go, in its birthplace of Seattle. The stores could completely revolutionise shopping as we know it, as the “Just Walk Out” stores mean that you don't need to queue for a cashier; instead you just pick up your purchases and leave. A step beyond self-serve checkouts, the Amazon Go stores are fitted with weight sensors and cameras, so that you can add items to your virtual cart in the Amazon Go app by just picking them off the shelves.

There are now 26 checkout-free Amazon Go stores across the US in several major cities, including Chicago and San Francisco, with plans to open a London store before 2021. Amazon also opened a 10,400-square-foot (966-square-metre) Amazon Go supermarket in Seattle in February this year. The incredible “Just Walk Out” technology will soon be available for other retailers to buy, with several big names already in line to incorporate it in their own stores. Many suspect Whole Foods will be the first to adopt the approach after Amazon bought the grocer in 2017, with rumours suggesting the technology could be integrated into its stores as early as next year. 

In September, Amazon launched a new biometric payment method to be implemented in its Amazon Go stores. A new form of contactless payment, the system will take a scan of each customer’s palm, which will then be linked to their credit or debit card. Because of the intricacy of the vein patterns that will be catalogued, biometric payment is highly resistant to forgery, in theory making it a much safer method than cards or cash. Once registered, shoppers will be able to pay just using their hand which, like a contactless card, will need to hover over the scanner for a second or two before payment is complete. 

Amazon seems to have a finger in every pie, and recent announcements show that the company is keen to target two new markets: fresh food and luxury goods. Amazon Fresh has provided grocery deliveries since 2007, but only in mid-September 2020 did its first bricks-and-mortar store open to the public. The supermarkets feature the smart shopping carts found in the Go stores, while promising consistently low-priced goods. At the other end of the spectrum is Luxury Stores, Amazon’s first foray into the world of designer products. High-end brands will be able to sell their wares through the Amazon website like other vendors but will be given more control over factors such as inventory and pricing. The company has also enabled interactive, 360-degree views of products, so that shoppers can better visualise the quality of the on-screen items. Oscar de la Renta is the first, and so far only, luxury label to have partnered with Amazon.

Bezos has certainly put his money where his mouth is, as Amazon went on to pledge a whopping $1 billion (£800m) investment towards digitising small- and medium-sized businesses across India, enabling them to trade online. However, not everyone welcomes this investment, and some locals are opposing the move as it could damage their bricks-and-mortar businesses. Bezos also announced that Amazon would be exporting $10 billion (£8bn)-worth of India-made goods by 2025, as the company looks to secure a firm position in the country’s retail market. Financial technology is also on Amazon's Indian agenda, as the company has made a big push in expanding its offerings in the country, including a credit card, car insurance, and gold investment products, which were introduced in August. 

Given Amazon’s reputation for speedy delivery and its growing ventures in groceries, it’s perhaps unsurprising that a takeaway food delivery service called Amazon Food is now being trialled in India. Just as the pandemic lockdown set in, Amazon decided to make the most of everybody being stuck indoors and launched its delivery service ahead of schedule in four parts of Bengaluru. Around 100 restaurants were initially involved in the trial, which started in May, and local competitors Zomato and Swiggy will have to compete with their new rival.

This isn’t the company’s first enterprise in food delivery, as it ran a similar service called Amazon Restaurants across parts of the US and London for four years, before operations closed down in 2018. It may not have gone as well as hoped, but this fresh trial in India shows that Amazon is still keen to get a foothold in the industry. An investment in Deliveroo, one of the UK’s largest food delivery services, was finally approved in April this year, after Amazon's $575 million (£460m) investment was initially blocked by regulators in 2019 on the grounds of limiting competition. There are rumours that Deliveroo could launch an IPO in 2021, which could impact Amazon’s 16% share in the business.

In 2018, reports claimed that the store would be opening in 2020, featuring delivery drones and few human staff, making it the most technologically-advanced shopping space in the world. The cashier-free store concept could be the real game-changer, transforming the way we shop entirely – if it goes ahead. Little information about this new shopping experience has emerged in the last two years, so it remains to be seen whether the store will be welcoming shoppers by the end of this year as planned.

In April 2018, Bloomberg revealed that Amazon is working on a project that could really shake things up: a next-generation smart robot for the home that will be powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Named Vesta, after the Roman goddess of home and family, this robot (not pictured) will help around the house with cleaning and other chores, making everyday home life just that little bit easier.

Domestic robots are nothing new, but Vesta is expected to boast the latest cameras, sensors and other futuristic technologies, and may be able to do everything from simple household chores to complex problem-solving, as well as providing companionship. Many expected to see Amazon’s new project for the first time at a press event in September 2019, but a no-show suggested that the tech giant could be having difficulties, leaving the world waiting that little bit longer for a robot capable of doing all the housework. 

The number of devices Alexa works with has reached 100,000 as of July. Hundreds of millions of Alexa devices have been sold worldwide and more are coming. As well as speakers, laptops, microwaves and other gadgets for the home, Alexa is also finding her way into offices, hotels, smart glasses and, more recently, cars. Amazon faces stiff competition from Google (Google Assistant) and Apple (Siri), which is why this next move for Alexa could prove to be the big game-changer...

Despite its name, Alexa still lacks the human touch, which is Amazon’s next goal. The company wants to make interactions more natural, for example not having to start each request with the wake word “Alexa”, but rather it responding to queries such as “Can you turn the lights on, Alexa?”, and noises like a dog barking or a baby crying. Alexa Care Hub is also on the agenda, which would allow an elderly person’s device to be paired with a family member’s, so people can keep in touch easily with vulnerable relatives. This would provide useful data in terms of making Alexa a companion that could one day help to tackle health problems in its users, but it has raised questions about how deeply we want this kind of tech integrated into our lives… 

Another industry the tech giant is keen to make waves in is gaming. Amazon has just launched Luna, a cloud gaming service that allows users to play on streaming devices without having to download or install games beforehand. Luna will work on any Bluetooth controller, but Amazon has also released its own Luna version (pictured), which will connect directly to the cloud service. The games players can access depends on which channels they subscribe to, with the base channel Luna Plus costing $5.99 a month for early access users. There is no fixed release date for Luna, but keen gamers can already sign up for early access. 

Amazon has been supplying hospitals for years now, but it intends to take the medical side of its business to the next level. Amazon Care launched in September 2019 as a pilot for Seattle-based Amazon employees and their families. So far it has proven successful enough that Amazon is starting to scale up the service to cater for more workers. The service provides virtual and real-life healthcare assistance through Oasis Medical, including in-app visits to a doctor, in-person check-ups and prescriptions delivered within two hours.

Last year plans became more concrete as a lawsuit revealed Amazon’s intentions to sell drugs directly to employers and health plans. This would allow Amazon to become its own pharmacy benefit manager – an administrator of prescription drug programmes – which could really disrupt the $311 billion (£250bn) American pharmacy market. Amazon is also getting into America's $345.7 billion (£276.6bn) prescription drugs market, a move that should further lower healthcare costs across America. In June 2018, the company snapped up online pharmacy PillPack, enabling it to dispense prescriptions in 50 states, something that would have taken years to achieve otherwise.

Now find out how America's healthcare system compares to those around the world

Amazon’s most recent tech-meets-health invention is Halo, a new wearable device looking to disrupt the fitness tracker market currently dominated by the likes of Fitbit and Apple. Similar to its rivals, Halo will monitor sleep and activity levels, but it will also be able to monitor the wearer’s body composition. Another unique feature is that it will track the tone of your voice to get a sense of your mood and energy levels. Halo's design really makes it stand out from its rivals as it is a waterproof fabric band without a screen, so can only be operated through an app. This new tracker is currently only available for early access customers, with wider release dates as yet unknown.

Amazon is always looking to improve on its service, but until 2018 it wasn’t delivering its own parcels and relied on third-party postal services such as FedEx. But the gradual introduction of Amazon’s own vans (up to 30,000 at the end of 2019) has led to an expansion of same-day delivery options and gives customers the chance to return products directly to the driver for them to be taken back to Amazon. And Amazon isn't stopping at its own branded vans...

Amazon is now looking to make its delivery service more environmentally friendly. In 2019, Amazon released its Climate Pledge, which is a commitment to be net zero carbon across the board by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. The company has also ordered 100,000 electric vans from startup Rivian in a $5 billion (£4bn) move to neutralise its carbon emissions, while adding in state-of-the-art features such as an advanced driver-assist system and sensing equipment. The first of the eco-friendly vans was revealed earlier this month, with 10,000 scheduled to be in operation by 2022, and all 100,000 on the road by 2030. 

While Amazon hasn't revealed any plans to incorporate driverless technology into its future delivery vehicles, the company's investments suggest that might be the plan. In June this year, Amazon announced it was acquiring autonomous vehicle company Zoox, which has been developing driverless cars since 2014, for $1.3 billion (£998m). Zoox is known for building its vehicles from scratch, rather than from traditional cars, and it plans a vehicle that can drive backwards and forwards without turning. This isn't Amazon's first venture into driverless tech, as the company has previously invested in companies such as self-driving car start-up Aurora in 2019, and driverless trucks by Embark were spotted carrying Amazon wares on the I-10 Interstate highway in the US in January 2019. Things may move fast for its latest acquisition, as Zoox was granted a permit to test driverless cars without a back-up driver in California this September. 

Amazon isn’t just taking over the roads when it comes to delivering our packages. There's been a lot of hype about the Amazon Prime Air drone delivery service since December 2013, when CEO Jeff Bezos mentioned the firm's plans to develop the concept during a US TV interview. Amazon is now well on the way to rolling out the service, which will deliver packages weighing up to five pounds within just 30 minutes using miniature drones. In December 2016, the first Prime Air package was delivered at breakneck speed in a testing ground in Cambridge, England, which has a Prime Air fulfilment hub nearby.

There's a very good reason Amazon Prime Air is being developed in the UK rather than the US – the service is poised to launch in Britain first. Britain's National Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) relaxed the rule that all drones must be within a pilot’s line of vision, allowing for Amazon's testing early on, while the Federal Aviation Administration in the US has only recently given the same approval. The drone delivery service was due to get going at the end of 2019 in the UK, but as no official launch date has been set, some have accused Amazon of using the promise of drones as a means of drawing in new Prime customers. Amazon also has competition, as Walmart has recently signed a number of deals with drone companies to facilitate a similar delivery service from its stores.

Drones aren’t just for outdoor use. On 24 September, Amazon announced a plethora of exciting new tech developments, including a home security drone that would patrol the house when it’s empty. The Ring Always Home Cam is a flying upgrade to the Indoor Cams already manufactured by Ring, which was acquired by Amazon in 2018. The levitating security guard flies a route of the user’s choosing around the house, allowing continual home surveillance that links to your smartphone. The device will be available for purchase in early 2021 and will cost $249.99 in the US.

Also taking to the skies is Amazon Air. Since 2016, the company has been building up a fleet of planes for its delivery efforts. The company leased 15 Boeing 737-800s in the summer of 2019, which brought its fleet to a total of 65 Prime airplanes ready to drop off goods. Expansion is always on the horizon with Amazon, and it plans to have an air fleet of 70 planes in service by 2021. This announcement came in 2019 just after FedEx ended its express air service agreement with the e-commerce giant. Since May this year, 12 new cargo planes have been added to the Amazon Air fleet as the company tries to keep up with demand, which is a stark contrast to what is happening to most of the aviation industry as it struggles to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Amazon continues to grow, and more and more warehouses – known as “fulfilment centres” – are being created to meet demand. There are currently more than 175 fulfilment centres, most of which are in North America and across Europe. The centres use some of the most sophisticated tech around, including robots that organise shelves of goods and artificial intelligence-based stock taking. Australia's fourth fulfilment centre in Brisbane is scheduled to be ready in time for Christmas 2020, increasing Amazon’s presence in the southern hemisphere. Others are under construction in Parma, Italy; Alberta, Canada; and Oklahoma, Iowa, Idaho, Georgia, Arkansas, Delaware and Mississippi in the US. 

Facts you probably didn't know about Amazon

Until now, Amazon’s fulfilment centres have always been huge warehouses ranging between 400,000 and 1 million square feet (37,161-92,903 square metres) in size, which is the equivalent of 14 football pitches. But the e-commerce giant will soon open 1,000 smaller fulfilment centres in suburban neighbourhoods across the US as it looks to increase its same-day delivery capacity, bringing it in direct competition with big names offering similar services such as Walmart. This comes after Amazon pledged to give Prime customers more same-day deliveries during the pandemic, which will put its infrastructure under pressure at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Opening more warehouses that spread further across the States also minimises the company’s dependence on shipping companies, so this poses a threat to the likes of the US Postal Service and United Parcel Service.  

Centres create thousands of jobs for locals, and that’s set to be the case for some time as Amazon officials have recently dismissed the idea of fully-automated centres, saying that the company doesn't yet have the technology required for such a feat. But given the enormous progress Amazon has made in a little over 25 years, worker-less fulfilment centres in the future can’t be entirely ruled out.

Now discover the industries that will thrive after coronavirus