Amazon opens UK’s first contactless supermarket - and the reviews are in

Amazon has opened its first grocery store in the UK where customers can pay without checking out.

Goods can be purchased without checking out at a till at the brand new store Amazon Fresh in Ealing in west London. Upon entry, customers must scan the Amazon app on their phones.

“A seminal moment in the history of the UK supermarket”, was what Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital called the opening.

While inside the shop, customers can select and pay for items without going to the register, as motion sensors, cameras and other forms of technology to monitor what people are buying.

Despite not needing to check out, there will be staff on-site who will be responsible for general shop upkeep, such as stocking shelves, preparing food and answering customers questions.

10,000 products will be stocked with a mixture of famous brands, Amazon’s own brand and a selection of items from their retail partners Morrisons and Booths. Click and collect pick up and returns for Amazon products purchased online is another service this shop supplies.

Current plans expect a further ten stores to hit the UK. The online retail giant is no stranger to the supermarket sector; they own Whole Foods and operate a delivery service, also called Amazon Fresh. They already have brick and mortar shops in the US with similar monitoring technology, operating under the name Amazon Go. Pop up fashion boutiques is another endeavour they have tried.

If you’re interested in giving their system a go, customers have to be signed up to their subscription service Amazon Prime.

Amazon sales have boomed following the pandemic as shops have been forced to close. This is had an impact on the general world economy and the future of the high street. They have also faced questions about the way they treated their workforce.