LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco will on Tuesday open its first checkout-free store in central London, allowing customers to shop and pay without scanning a product or interacting with a cashier.
Tesco’s move follows similar trials by rivals, including Amazon, Aldi and Morrisons.
The roll-out of “GetGo” to the Tesco Express store at High Holborn follows a successful trial at a staff store on the retailer’s headquarters campus at Welwyn Garden City, north of London, which has been in place since 2019, the firm said.
The High Holborn store has been cashless since it opened in 2018.
Customers with the Tesco.com app will be able to check-in to the store, pick up the groceries they need and walk straight out without visiting a checkout.
A combination of cameras and weight-sensors will establish what customers have picked up and charge them for products directly through the app when they leave the store.
Customers will receive a receipt on their phone within a few minutes of leaving the store.
Tesco said it has partnered with Trigo to roll out the technology.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
