Kyle Field adds checkout-free stores with Amazon technology | Texas A&M

The senior at A&M made it back to his seat without missing a play on the field. Langston did so after he used one of the new checkout-free food and beverage stores in Kyle Field called “March In, March Out” that are equipped with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One.

Langston said using the store was efficient. He returned for a couple more drinks at halftime.

“This is way better than normal concessions lines that I’m about to have to do to get nachos,” Langston said.

There are three March In, March Out stores inside Kyle Field. Two are located outside Section 125 and the third is outside Section 129. The stores sell items such as snacks, chips, soda, bottled water and alcoholic beverages. IDs are required to be shown to store attendants to purchase alcohol.

Shoppers enter the store by inserting a credit card or holding their palm over an Amazon One device at the store’s entry gate. The Just Walk Out technology determines the items shoppers select, or return. When shoppers leave the store, the credit card they inserted or linked to their Amazon One ID will be charged for the items they took. No checkout is required. These are the first Amazon checkout-free technology and palm recognition services used at a collegiate venue.

“I hope that our concept is proven that it does get people confident in the technology of being frictionless,” said Chris Warner, vice president of hospitality and strategy at Aggie Hospitality. “They see the benefit of how much faster it is than the traditional belly-up bar and that there is a desire and demand from fans to increase this footprint throughout the stadium to include traditional concession stands with hot food offerings that we have in the stadium. I’m hoping the fanbase will speak loudly that this is the direction they want to go, again, to be able to get back into their seats and enjoy the reason that they’re there and that’s the Fightin’ Texas Aggie football team.”

Conversations between Amazon, A&M and Levy, the university’s hospitality partner, started during the middle of the 2021 football season, Warner said. He noted challenges arose trying to figure out how to implement the stores though since the stadium’s floor plan wasn’t built for them. Instead, they would have to retrofit, renovate or build new spaces. Warner said 24 possible store spaces were then identified throughout the stadium.

“What it really boiled down to for the first year, this year, we wanted to pick three to five spaces we knew we could build out in time and basically use as a proof of concept to test the technology, test the fan engagement with it, and see how it worked,” Warner said.

Branding the store as March In, March Out came from personnel in A&M’s athletics department, Warner said. Officials wanted to implement an Aggie theme.

“As soon as we heard it, we thought that’s the winner right there,” Warner said. “We didn’t need to see anything else because it makes sense. It has an Aggie theme to it and it’s really exactly what you do when you go to the Just Walk Out market. With that Aggie spin, you march in and you march out.”

Six people work the stores in roles such as answering questions and monitoring the exit, Warner said. Amazon Ambassadors are at Kyle Field for at least the first three games helping answer questions and enrolling fans to Amazon One. Warner said Amazon had some senior officials at A&M’s home opener against Sam Houston observing the stores.

Any changes to the stores will come between A&M’s game against Miami next Saturday and the Aggies’ next home matchup against Ole Miss on Oct. 29, Warner said. He noted there’s a desire to potentially add more stores in the stadium, but those decisions will be made after this season.

“We do expect that as the season goes on, the return rate of people that use those stores is extremely high with Amazon metrics with the other locations that they’ve opened,” Warner said. “So, we do expect either through word of mouth or promotions that more people will continue to use the stores as they see it as a great option to get a beverage or a snack in a relatively short amount of time.”

One person who heard through word of mouth was Tyler Prochnow. He said his friend went to one of the March In, March Out stores last week at A&M’s season opener against Sam Houston.

Prochnow said he stopped at one of the stores before the Aggies’ game against App State on Saturday on the way to his seats and bought a water and a beer. At halftime, he came back for more.

“It’s really convenient. You can go in and go out. No lines. Kind of an interesting, smaller space, too, so it’s great. I like it,” Prochnow said. “I’m definitely a return customer and I’ll come back again.”