Amazon latest: Online giant heads for the high street and shops will have no tills
Amazon is opening up to 30 convenience stores across the nation, automatically charging customers as they take items off the shelves. It has struck a deal for 10 Amazon Go shops but has plans to launch another 20 near transport hubs to target busy commuters who want to grab goods and go without physical checkouts.
Amazon introduce their cashierless grocery store in 2016
If the plans go ahead, the first would open by the end of this year with suggestions it could be in Notting Hill, west London. Shoppers in the store will need to scan their smartphones to gain entry, just like they do with boarding passes at airports. Then sensors or cameras will track them around the shop and record the products in their baskets.
When customers have finished shopping, they will walk out and receive a receipt via email.
Employees will be on the shop floor to assist customers and restock shelves.
Amazon opened its first Go store in Seattle, Washington, in 2018, selling groceries, pre-packaged sandwiches and salads, as well as household essentials such as batteries and cleaning products.
Shoppers trying it for the first time likened the experience to shoplifting but the chain has since expanded to 26 branches.
The Silicon Valley firm, worth £1.2trillion, has the funds to venture on to the UK’s struggling high street when others are battling to survive because of the pandemic.
It revealed last week that global sales soared 40 percent to £67.9billion between April and June as shoppers ordered online because of health fears.
Tesco first tested a completely cashless branch in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, in 2018.
Sainsbury’s also launched a till-free grocery shop last year with customers paying using their smartphones.
Amazon’s Go stores would be the company's first here, although bosses have yet to announce it officially.
Amazon is in talks with shopping centres about separate plans to turn vacant outlets into bookstores or branches that sell products rated four stars or higher on its website.
Last week it said it would expand its Fresh grocery delivery service nationwide.
These are just the latest ventures from the tech giant that started out just selling books from a garage 26 years ago.
It has made founder Jeff Bezos the world's richest person with a fortune of more than £100billion.