Amazon Preparing To Bring Checkout-Free Grocery Store To Europe

Amazon is preparing to bring its checkout-free grocery store Amazon Go to Europe in an attempt to crack the $800 billion global market.

Last week, the U.K. Intellectual Property Office approved the company’s application to trademark the slogans “No Lines. No Checkout. (No, Seriously.)” and “No Queue. No Checkout. (No, Seriously.)”

According to Bloomberg Technology, a corresponding application is being reviewed by the European Union’s equivalent agency.  Amazon declined to comment on the news.

A promotional video for Amazon Go on YouTube has been viewed more than 9 million times, and the company has already opened a futuristic test store under that name in Seattle. Shoppers there find no cashiers or checkouts. Instead, sensors and a smartphone application track customers’ “virtual shopping carts” when they place items in their bags. When they leave the store, Amazon adds up the cost of items purchased and charges shoppers’ accounts.

Amazon is testing three brick-and-mortar grocery formats in Seattle: Amazon Go, drive-in grocery kiosks and a hybrid supermarket that combines online and in-store shopping.

With a well-developed eCommerce industry, the U.K. is a logical first step for Amazon to introduce its product outside of the Unites States. The expansion would not be good news for British supermarket operators Tesco Plc and J Sainsbury Plc, which are struggling to hold on to shoppers amid stiff competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl.

And last year Amazon launched its online grocery delivery service Fresh in the U.K. and also partnered with Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc to bolster its product range.