Amazon’s 'Just Walk Out' cashier & cashless supermarket with own food By Amazon

Virgin Radio

4 Mar 2021, 15:02

This sounds like something from Back To The Future - but there's no Michael J. Fox in sight. Amazon have launched their own store where customers can literally grab and go. There aren't any tills, no cashiers or any annoying scanning - instead, there are high tech cameras keeping a close eye on your every move and detecting what you pick up.

The new Amazon Fresh store in Ealing Broadway, West London opened today at 7am and uses a “virtual basket” on each shopper’s phone - while the total is calculated and stored.

The 'Just Walk Out' tech is set to be rolled out across the UK in 2022, while Amazon has pipped Tesco and Sainsbury’s to the post and been the first to launch a store of its kind.

Amazon

Credit: Amazon Fresh

The company are also launching its own By Amazon range of food including £1 meal deals, fresh coffee machines and very reasonably priced essentials like milk, baked goods and washing powder with two pints of milk for 85p, six medium free range eggs for 90p and 500g of British minced beef £2.75.

It also includes brands like Kellogg’s, Heinz and items from Morrisons, while there's an added bonus of having an Amazon Hub for parcel return and pick up for online users.

Amazon

Credit: Amazon Fresh

Former Sainsbury's exec Matt Birch joined Amazon last year to lead the new stores. He told The Sun: “We know the technology will delight our customers.

"The technology sets out to answer the question: 'Who took what?'

“Anything a customer takes off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart. 

"Anything they put back on the shelf comes out of their virtual cart.”

Amazon

Credit: Amazon Fresh

Credit: Amazon Fresh

Amazon says its tech uses "computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensor fusion".

Customers have commented online it's 'a bit like being in an episode of Doctor Who' or even 'what it feels like to go shoplifting'.

Others are concerned with the effect on local shops, the decline of communities and isolating people from each other further.

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