Amazon scraps ‘just walk out’ checkouts at grocery shops

AMAZON is scrapping its “just walk out” technology in the US after years of trying to gain traction for its checkout-free offer.

The decision to ditch the grocery store technology was revealed yesterday, although the move will not affect outlets in the UK. Since its launch in 2016, the system has allowed shoppers to grab items and leave without paying at the checkout, instead being charged through their Amazon accounts.

Tony Hoggett, senior vice president of Amazon’s grocery stores, told The Information website that it will prioritise smart trolley technology in the US rather than just-walk-out equipment.

Amazon’s so-called Dash Cart system was launched in 2020 and tracks items as shoppers place them in trolleys. It is able to weigh items and give people real-time receipts. Customers subsequently leave stores through special lanes where their cards are charged.

An Amazon spokesman said the company had invested “a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the last year”.

They added: “We’ve also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with just-walk-out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view their receipt as they shop, and know how much money they saved while shopping throughout the store.”

Amazon opened its first checkout-free supermarket in London in early 2021 as part of its push into physical stores. However, in August 2022, it paused a rollout of its cashier-less grocery stores in the UK.

Early last year, it unveiled a wider hiatus after it announced it would be closing some sites. This led to the online retail giant taking a $720m (£590m) writedown on its bricks-andmortar portfolio.

Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, said the company was “not going to expand the physical Fresh stores” until it had established how it could provide a “different offering”.

Rival supermarkets have dipped their toes into checkout-free shopping, though mainly through self-service tills.