Amazon has opened two more of its ‘just walk out’ grocery stores, taking the total to ten only nine months after the format made its debut in the UK.
The latest Amazon Fresh sites are located in Angel and Richmond, joining stores in Ealing, Wembley Park, Camden, White City, Canary Wharf, Dalston, East Sheen and Holborn.
Reports last month said Amazon wants to have over 260 of the hi-tech grocery stores operating in the UK before the end of 2024 to challenge the established players in the sector.
All of the Amazon Fresh stores opened so far have been in high footfall areas in London. The company has already confirmed that additional stores are planned for the Greater London area, although roll out to other large cities is likely to be the next step in its drive to grab a significant share of the UK grocery market.
Earlier this week, Sainsbury’s became the latest grocery retailer to launch a checkout-free store that uses cameras and shelf sensors to detect what shoppers put in their basket. The new SmartShop Pick & Go format has been built around the ‘just walk out’ technology developed by Amazon.
NAM Implications:
- Amazon now knows how it works in practice.
- Scalability comes next…
- Any bets on more than 260 stores by 2024…
- …or 260 stores before 2024?
