Amazon scraps ‘just walk out’ checkouts at grocery stores

An Amazon spokesman said the company had invested “a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the last year”.

They added: “We’ve also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with just walk out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view their receipt as they shop, and know how much money they saved while shopping throughout the store.”

Amazon opened its first checkout-free supermarket in London in early 2021 as part of its push into physical stores.

However, in August 2022, it paused a roll-out of its cashierless grocery stores in the UK.

Early last year, it unveiled a wider hiatus as said it would be closing some sites. This led to the online retail giant taking a $720m (£590m) writedown on its bricks-and-mortar portfolio.

Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, said the company was “not going to expand the physical Fresh stores” until it had established how it could provide a “different offering”.

Rival supermarkets have dipped their toes into checkout-free shopping. However, many have directed spending towards cheaper alternatives such as more self-service tills.