(Pocket-lint) - You mightiness person heard astir Amazon Go, the 'just locomotion out' benignant of supermarket, but present there's a precise British rival that's unfastened successful London's Holborn: Tesco GetGo.
GetGo aims for a checkout-free experience, with customers capable to download the Tesco Grocery & Clubcard app - disposable for Apple iOS and Android devices - and past simply locomotion retired of the store aft making their selections.
Cameras astir the GetGo store, combined with artificial quality (AI), volition automatically recognise what you've packed into your handbasket and past you tin permission for automated billing via the app.
It's not wholly checkout-free, though, arsenic restricted items specified arsenic baccy and alcohol, necessitate a staffed presumption to verify customers' ineligible ages anterior to specified sales.
Tesco GetGo arrives aft trials of a akin setup astatine the supermarket giant's headquarters, successful Welwyn Garden City, were a success. It's a small connected the heels of Amazon, of course, arsenic the US elephantine has already rolled retired galore of its Go stores successful the USA, earlier its archetypal Amazon Fresh equivalent opened successful Ealing, London, backmost successful March 2021.
So is this the aboriginal of shopping? Tesco says it's going to tally the 1 GetGo store proceedings to spot "how customers respond". If it's a occurrence past we'll surely spot much contact-free and checkout-free experiences rotation retired crossed assorted parts of the country. And we fishy its main rivals, specified arsenic Sainsbury's and Waitrose, won't beryllium excessively acold down either...
Writing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 27 October 2021.