Amazon last week opened its first cashierless store outside of the USA. Called Amazon Fresh, the store is in Ealing in west London.

Planning for the store had been shrouded in secrecy though workers had been preparing for its launch for weeks.

It uses the same technology as the US Amazon Go stores, of which there are 25. Users must first download an app to their mobile phone. As they shop, goods are automatically added to the bill as they pick them up and deducted if they put them back again, detected by sensors around the store. They can then leave the store and payment is automatic.

Apparently, there are plans for another 30 stores around Britain.

Home delivery company ParcelHero says the launch of the first Amazon Go store in the UK is perfectly timed to help customers during the pandemic.

“Amazon decision to introduce till-free stores wasn’t due to the pandemic,” said ParcelHero’s head of consumer research David Jinks. “In fact, it has been trialling the technology since 2016 and opened its first Go store to the public in the USA in 2018. However, the impact of Covid created the impetus for the company to open its first contactless store outside the USA.”

Once at the store, shoppers hold their phone screen to a scanner at the gate to open it. Anything they take from the shelf is automatically added to the virtual cart. When they have finished shopping, they are good to go; there are no queues, machines or checkouts. Providing shoppers keep their distance from each other, there is no need for any physical contact in the store.

Amazon has a long-standing relationship with UK supermarket chain Morrisons, which supplies the Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service. It is highly likely that Morrisons will be key to the stocking and logistics behind the new Go store. Amazon also owns the grocery chain Whole Foods. Its Richmond branch is close to Ealing, so there are likely to be on-going potential synergies.

Amazon is not the only retailer in the UK to see the benefits of contactless shopping. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co-Op have been trialling ways to eliminate the shopping queue. For example, the Co-op’s Pay in Aisle app was launched in 2018 and Sainsbury’s trialled a cashierless store in London’s Holborn Circus in 2019.