Sainsbury’s partners with Amazon on checkout-free London store

The shop in London’s Holborn is the first location outside the US to be powered by Amazon’s cashierless technology, other than its own Amazon Fresh grocery stores.

It is currently being tested by Sainsbury’s employees but is expected to open to the public later this month, according to Bloomberg.

The store is equipped with dozens of cameras and sensors, which track shoppers’ movements throughout the store.

Rather than queue at a checkout, consumers can simply walk out with their items and are charged upon exiting the store.

Sainsbury’s said the cameras and shelf-edge technology are made by a “third-party supplier” and has referred to the new concept as ‘SmartShop Pick & Go’.

The supermarket giant had previously trialled a checkout-free store opposite its head office in Holborn in the summer of 2019, but abandoned the pilot after just three months, admitting that “not all our customers are ready for totally till-free” shopping.

Last month, Sainsbury’s big-four rival Tesco launched its first GetGo checkout-free store a stone’s throw away on High Holborn. The shop operates in a similar way to Amazon Fresh stores but is equipped with technology from Israeli firm Trigo.

A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “We regularly trial new and convenient ways for customers to shop with us and we’re currently testing an upgraded version of SmartShop with colleagues at one of our Holborn stores.”