Like Amazon, Tesco Tests Out Cashier-less Payments At C-Store

Months after Amazon rolled out its cashier-less convenience store (C-Store) dubbed Amazon Go, Tesco is testing a checkout-free payment method in the U.K. The British grocer is experimenting with the concept on its corporate campus at a Tesco Express C-store, the Daily Mail reported.

Tesco Convenience Transformation Director Steven Blair said, “Using your mobile device, you select some products, put them into your basket on your device and then just walk out of the store. The feedback is very good on it but it’s super early.”

While the smartphones of certain staff can use the service through an app called Scan Pay Go, the experiment might be conducted more widely if it proves to be successful. But security has to be kept in mind due to the potential of theft.

The news comes as Amazon’s first foray into the convenience store market, Amazon Go, opened in January at its headquarters in Seattle, Washington. According to a report in Recode, the store, which was in development for five years, is located on the ground floor of the eCommerce giant’s new headquarters. The store is filled with technologies not typically found in a U.S. convenience store.

Recode reported that, upon entering the Amazon Go store, customers choose from pre-made salads, sandwiches, snacks and meals, as wells as beer, wine and other beverages. Shelves are also stocked with produce, meat and Amazon meal kits, noted the report.

The store appears to be an early hit with customers: Consumers who try Amazon Go like it enough to keep coming back, particularly if the cashier-free shops are in proximity to where they live or work. Amazon Go Vice President Gianna Puerini said, “The ones who work very close, like in the building up above, will come down even just to grab a drink because it’s so fast and easy.”