Sainsbury’s has teamed up with Amazon to open a store where customers can pick up items and leave without having to use a till.
It opened the store in Holborn, central London, on Monday, yards away from similar checkout-free stores from Amazon and Tesco.
Sainsbury’s is using Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology for the store, in Amazon’s first partnership with a third-party international customer for the technology.
It is currently used across eight Amazon Fresh stores in London, as the retail giant continues to expand its bricks and mortar operation.
The new store will be on the site of Sainsbury’s first till-free store, which it opened in 2019.
However, the supermarket group ended the trial months later after complaints from shoppers who found the shopping experience difficult.
The UK’s second largest grocer said it has seen a recent surge in popularity for its SmartShop app, which has seen sales numbers increase by 173% year-on-year.
“We are excited about launching ‘SmartShop Pick & Go’, which offers contactless, checkout-free shopping to our customers, and are looking forward to hearing their feedback.”
Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president of physical retail and technology, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with Sainsbury’s to enable their Holborn Circus checkout-free convenience store powered by our Just Walk Out technology.
“We’re excited to bring Just Walk Out technology to our first customer internationally with Sainsbury’s.
“With no tills, no checkout lanes, and no self-service scanners, we can’t wait to hear how busy Londoners enjoy the experience.”
