Shrouded in secrecy: Britain’s first Amazon grocery store (and it won’t have a single till)
AMAZON is set to open the first in a wave of grocery shops across Britain this week – and customers won’t need to worry about queues at the tills.
Shoppers at the US retail giant’s futuristic ‘contactless’ store in London will be able to pick up food and walk out without stopping to pay.
The automated shop will use hidden sensors and cameras to track what customers are loading into their shopping bags. They will then be charged via an Amazon app on their mobile phone.
Plans for the opening of the first Amazon Go store in the UK have been shrouded in secrecy for months, but The Mail on Sunday understands the tech giant plans this week to unveil its first shop in Ealing, West London, where workers have been preparing the site in recent weeks.
Yesterday, the Amazon Go facade was covered in an effort to keep the plan under wraps for as long as possible.
Industry sources said they believe British supermarket chain Morrisons, which has a long-standing relationship with the tech giant as the British arm of its Amazon Fresh delivery service, has teamed up with Amazon and is preparing to dispatch products ready for the launch.
Amazon Go shops have been billed as providing a glimpse into the future of shopping.
Customers will not need any cash but must download the Amazon Go app onto their mobile phone before entering. They then switch on the app as they walk in and scan it against a sensor at the entrance.
Food they pick up from shelves is automatically added to their ‘virtual’ shopping list even if the phone is in their pocket. The products are then automatically charged to their Amazon account as they leave the store. Shelf sensors detect when items are picked up or placed back on the shelf.
The shop in Ealing will be the first Amazon Go to open outside the $400 billion corporation’s home market in the US, where it has about 25 stores. Plans for at least another 30 Amazon Go outlets in Britain have already been drawn up.
Amazon, which also owns Wholefoods, declined to comment on the new venture or the location of the first store. Morrisons did not respond when contacted.
Bryan Roberts, a grocery industry expert, said: ‘I’ve been to the Amazon Go stores in the US and it is unlike anything else I have ever experienced among the big retailers. With other contactless and self-checkout stores there are often glitches and they all involve a degree of effort and time from the customer.
‘With Amazon Go, once you’ve registered and have the app, you do literally walk straight out,’ he said.
‘I’m not sure this is going to lead to the death of the supermarket but Amazon Go is a brilliant showcase for their technology.’