Amazon plans to close all its 19 Amazon Fresh stores in the UK. The US online giant announced this in a blog post on Tuesday this week. This also means the end of Just Walk Out technology in larger stores in the United Kingdom. Competitor Sainsbury’s had already replaced it with self-checkouts at its London Holborn Circus store in February.
Once the closure is complete, there will be no more larger grocery stores in the UK without checkouts. Discounter Aldi Süd, which operates a Shop&Go store in London using AiFi technology, also added a self-checkout option last month. This followed an initial step in January 2024 that allowed customers to shop there without using an app. The Retail Optimiser reported.
However, also in the UK, the number of scanless small-format convenience stores will continue to grow. Tesco currently operates four of its Express stores under the GetGo banner using scanless Trigo technology. More are to follow. In July, the Co-operative Group opened its first of 15 planned Co-op On The Go micro-stores. However, these do not rely on camera technology and AI but aim to achieve fast and smooth operation using an app in conjunction with NFC technology integrated into ESLs.
Scanless technology struggles in larger stores
Retraction of scanless technology from British supermarkets underlines the understanding that, with larger product ranges and corresponding floor space, it is not yet capable of clearly recognising all transactions and functioning in a fully automated manner. In many cases, AI cannot deliver a reliable result and requires manual intervention. This fact has long been known in the industry, but retail operations and most of the trade press have not reported on it openly.
In April 2024, The Retail Optimiser picked up on media reports stating that over 1,000 Amazon employees in India use video footage to decide on cases where AI cannot provide a reliable result as to whether a shopper has taken a product or not – or whether they have put it back or not.
New direction for food
It remains exciting to see how the technology will develop overall. Will Amazon also abandon its Just Walk Out technology in its home market? Will computer vision and AI be able to reliably register retail sales in complex situations medium or long term? It can be expected that the technology will continue to make progress.
Amazon is not closing its Amazon Fresh stores for technological reasons alone. The move is also part of the retailer’s repositioning in the food market. The company wants to focus more on its Whole Foods banner operation. Five of the British Amazon Fresh stores will be rebranded accordingly. Moreover, Amazon is working on further expanding its online grocery business in the UK. To this end, the company is relying on cooperating with Morrisons, Iceland and Co-op as well as with delivery service Gopuff.
