Amazon Go for London?
Amazon is reportedly looking to take on shop space in London which it can use to launch its “Amazon Go” checkout-less grocery stores. As previously reported by Post&Parcel, Amazon has launched a prototype “Amazon Go” store in its home town Seattle.
The idea behind the store is that customers can walk in, take the products they want off the shelves and then leave without having to go through a checkout. The store is equipped with sensors and tracking systems so Amazon will know what customers have bought – and their accounts are billed accordingly. At the moment the Seattle store is still in the testing phase and only open to Amazon employees.
Now, according to a report published yesterday (5 February) in the Sunday Times, Amazon has been scouting for locations that could be used to roll out the Amazon Go project to the UK. The company also registered a UK trademark for Amazon Go in December.
Amazon has not commented on the reports.
E-commerce delivery specialist ParcelHero – which predicted back in October that Amazon would be launching check-out free stores in the UK soon – told Post&Parcel today that Amazon Go stores would be a “retail game changer”.
ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks, commented: ‘From the moment Amazon launched its ‘Project Como’ prototype check-out-less store in Seattle last autumn, we were certain that Amazon would seek to pioneer the service in the UK. London has been a testing ground for many of Amazon’s big leap forwards, such as the launch of Amazon Logistics which enabled one hour delivery slots, etc. Its scale and population size makes the Capital a perfect fit for a chain of such stores. Amazon’s Go format stores mean shoppers will be able to pay for products using their smart phones without having to use any kind of till – even the much-loathed automatic variety!”
Jinks predicted that Amazon Go’s arrival will have a profound impact on our High Streets. “Our new report, 2030 The Death of the High Street, released last month, highlights not only the way e-commerce will impact on our town centre stores; but also predicts the spread of Amazon’s pioneering Go in the UK.
“Home shopping will wipe out over 50% of town centre stores by 2030; and brick and mortar supermarket’s market share will slump from 42% to 24% by 2030 with the end of the traditional weekly ‘big grocery shop’ – and that’s not enough to remain viable. Superstores will rapidly become white elephant inconvenience stores; but, in contrast, automated convenience stores will become a boom market, as shoppers use them to supplement their regular online orders for fresh produce.
Jinks continued: “There can be a future for the High Street IF people return to live there, creating an economy and infrastructure that doesn’t suddenly end at 6pm. Otherwise High Streets will become ghost towns.
“24-hour automated convenience stores will be needed to ensure a returning High Street population’s needs are met. Of course, this presents a threat to traditional shop jobs; but these have been endangered ever since the arrival of e-commerce.
“At least Amazon Go presents a model where some physical shops can still survive on the High Street; without the burden of till-trained staff wages as well as rates and rents.”
