Ecommerce giant Amazon looks set to unveil its first till-free UK store shortly at a location in West London.
Employing Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ technology, all customers need to do in order to make purchases is scan the Amazon Go app at the gate and do their shopping. Items are added to a virtual cart, bypassing the checkout as there is no traditional point of sale (POS) terminal.
Any items purchased are billed to the customer’s Amazon account, with a receipt of the transaction being emailed to them, getting rid of the need for a paper receipt altogether. The experience aims to offer convenience but also cuts down on physical contact, particularly at bottlenecks like the checkout, POS terminal and bagging areas.
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While the opening will be the first store of its type in the UK, Amazon has been trialling the system since 2016 in America and opened its first touch-free store in 2018. The online shopping giant now has over 25 examples across the US. If the pilot is successful it's rumoured that Amazon could eventually open up to 30 new cashier-less shops on UK soil.
E-commerce retail
Alongside its hugely diverse e-commerce retail selection Amazon is said to be keen on boosting its fortunes in the area of UK grocery delivery. Research by Mintel has found this is currently just 3%.
However, with demand for both home shopping and contactless payment methods increasing, particularly in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the internet retailer could boost this dramatically alongside its Amazon Go venture.
Consumers can already download the Amazon Go App, which is already available for Apple and Android devices in the UK, even if they can't actually visit a physical Amazon Go store just yet.
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