03/08/2021

The e-commerce giant Amazon has opened an Amazon Fresh store in the UK, the first of the retail giant’s cashierless stores to open outside of the US.

The 2,500-square-foot grocery store, located in Ealing, London, offers what Amazon has aptly called ‘Just Walk Out Shopping’. The Amazon Fresh store is available to Amazon customers who would need to scan in a code on their phone to enter. Shoppers then pick items off the shelves without scanning them, and the bill is automatically charged to their Amazon account when they leave the store.

The store deploys Amazon's Just Walk Out technology, which uses cameras to track shoppers and their purchases.

It uses the same tech that was debuted when Amazon opened its first cashierless ‘Amazon Go’ stores in the US back in 2018.

The analyst said the trial will be watched closely by the big fast-moving consumer goods brands, who are keen to maximize sales and reduce costs, and may be tempted to consider their own technology-based operational solutions in the future.