This technology platform, called 'Just Walk Out', required over 1,000 workers in India manually reviewing video footage to verify transactions. By 2022, 700 out of every 1,000 sales needed human review. Amazon pulled the technology from their Fresh grocery stores in 2024.
They paved the way. But it wasn't sustainable.
The problem wasn't the concept. It was the complexity. Grocery stores carry thousands of SKUs, items without barcodes, and unpredictable customer behavior at scale.
In fact, this same technology is succeeding in stadiums and small-format stores.
Mashgin kiosks are deployed across 150+ sports venues and a number of airports. Guests drop items on a tray, the system scans and prices them using computer vision, and checkout finishes in under 15 seconds. No barcode scanning. No cashier. No human review loop.
Over 1.4 million items sold at NFL stadiums in 2024 alone. Median transaction time sits below 15 seconds, even during halftime surges when traditional concessions collapse under volume. Walk out technology works when the context is controlled.
Why Stadiums Succeed Where Grocery Failed
Stadiums solve the problems that broke Amazon's model:
- Limited SKUs. Concessions carry hundreds of items, not tens of thousands.
- High margins. Premium pricing justifies the tech investment.
- Controlled environment. Fixed locations, predictable lighting, standardized packaging.
- Edge AI processing. No cloud dependency. No human review. Decisions happen on-device in real time.
Mashgin removes the constraint. Throughput scales without adding headcount. The kiosk processes items as fast as fans can place them on the tray.
Speed only holds if the system stays up. Any downtime, and the kiosk becomes a bottleneck worse than the line it replaced.
How Mashgin Handles Volume
Mashgin uses 3D computer vision and edge AI to identify items in real time:
- Multiple cameras capture items from different angles as they land on the tray
- On-device neural networks classify products without cloud dependency
- Pricing and inventory sync with stadium POS systems for accuracy
- Payment integrates with tap-to-pay terminals, completing the loop in seconds
- The system learns new items through supervised training, expanding the catalog without hardware changes
The kiosk handles edge cases. Overlapping items, similar packaging, partial obstructions. It doesn't need perfect placement. It adapts.
Where Systems Show Strain
Sub-15-second transactions are only part of the picture. The system must handle:
- Item recognition on uncommon products or damaged packaging
- Payment terminal sync between scan and tap-to-pay authorization
- Network dependency for POS inventory and pricing data
- Maintenance coordination to keep kiosks online during peak hours
- User experience for first-time interactions
The kiosk is fast. But any friction in the surrounding infrastructure turns speed into a liability.
The 8th Light Take
We've built systems where transaction speed defines the user experience. The patterns are consistent:
- Edge processing beats cloud dependency. Latency kills speed. Compute at the point of interaction.
- Resilience can't rely on uptime alone. Fallback paths and graceful degradation keep systems functional when pieces fail.
- Integration rigor matters. POS sync, payment rails, and inventory feeds all need equal attention.
- Observability must flag slowdowns before users notice. Median transaction time creeping from 12 to 18 seconds is a leading indicator.
- User flows need intentional design. Speed means nothing if confusion adds 10 seconds at the start.
The New Baseline
Mashgin proves that AI-powered checkout can handle stadium-scale volume without collapsing. 440 million transactions processed in 2024. Over 10 million transactions per year in sports venues alone. 15-second transactions hold even during halftime rushes.
Mashgin saved NFL fans an estimated 6.3 million minutes of waiting in 2024.
For venue operators and engineering leaders, the lesson is clear. Queues are now a choice, not a constraint.
At 8th Light, we help organizations step into this future, building systems that are not only reliable but also engineered for personalization, responsiveness, and resilience. The winners in this era won’t just capture audiences. They’ll create markets where users demand more and are ready to pay for it.
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The FANtastic 15 is a blog series focused on you, the fan, and how innovation improves experiences all over the world. Whether at a soccer match, F1 race, or a concert tour, the fan is the most valuable player and these are the stories that change the game for all of us.
