Amazon opens its first European grocery store in the UK with no tills

HAVING started to compete with the supermarkets in the UK with its online grocery business, Amazon today, March 4 took things a step further by opening it’s first food store outside of the USA.

Amazon Fresh offers a range of food in its Ealing Broadway store and customers simply use the Amazon App to enter, put all of their items into Amazon Fresh bags and walk out with no queueing and no stopping at a till to pay.

Thanks to the technology in use in the store, when customers scan in on arrival, their chosen method of payment is noted and as they place items in their bags, so the bill is prepared and once they leave, the charge is made directly via the App.

Initially, there will be around 10,000 different items available to customers, either from Amazon’s own ‘by Amazon’ brand or from items supplied by Morrisons and Booths and it is even possible to buy hot food as well as special readymade meals.

It is not as big as an out-of-town superstore but should have everything available that high street shoppers would want to purchase.

Whilst there may be no long queues to check out, one of their safety measures is that at certain times there will be a maximum of 20 customers given admittance to the shop, which could mean queues outside or lost business as shoppers look elsewhere.

Certainly, this new venture by tech savvy and very rich Amazon is bound to give competitors something to think about especially if they expand across the country.

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