Amritsar, NFA Post: E-commerce platform Amazon on Thursday launched “just walk out shopping” convenience grocery store in the UK, its first physical store outside of the US.
The Amazon Fresh launched in Ealing Broadway shopping centre in the west London adds to the online retail giant’s efforts to step up its competition with traditional supermarkets and other offline retailers.
“The Amazon Fresh store will offer customers everything they’d want from their local neighborhood grocery store with an experience that allows shoppers to simply take what they want and just walk out,” Amazon said in a statement.
This store has no checkouts, and according to Amazon, it is first such store in the UK to offer just walk out shopping.
Instead of scanning the items or pay for them at store, customers have to scan a QR code using the Amazon app before entering the outlet, and once in they can bag the items they want to purchase, and just leave.
The technology placed at the Amazon Fresh store in London automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves, the company said.
The picked items are then stored in a virtual basket, and when shoppers leave the store, their Amazon account is automatically charged, and a receipt is sent to their mail, it added.
At this new outlet, similar to the company’s 20 Amazon Go outlets in the US, ‘deep learning’ algorithms are used. This technology allows machines to learn by themselves, with cameras and sensors to tell what customers have picked, Amazon said.
On Thursday, a team of assistants were present at the 2,500 square foot store to explain the customers on how the system worked.
