Sainsbury’s Local Holburn Circus in London till free store moves back to traditional checkout solutions

In 2021, Sainsbury’s Holborn Circus Local location underwent a refurbishment to become a SmartShop Pick & Go mobile first and check-out free store, powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.

Clo Moriarty, Sainsbury’s Retail and Digital Director, said at the time: “We are always looking at new ways to make shopping easy and convenient for our customers. We are excited about launching SmartShop Pick & Go, which offers contactless, checkout-free shopping to our customers and are looking forward to hearing their feedback.” 

Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s Vice President of Physical Retail and Technology, added: “We’re excited to bring Just Walk Out technology to our first customer internationally with Sainsbury’s. With no tills, no checkout lanes, and no self-service scanners, we can’t wait to hear how busy Londoners enjoy the experience.”

“We’ll be with our customers and colleagues all the way over the coming months, iterating continuously based on their feedback before we decide if, how and where we make this experience more widely available.”

The experiment is over, however, with Holburn Circus being converted back into a regular store featuring traditional checkout solutions. Shoppers will now find a customer kiosk with a till and two self-checkouts. They will also be able pay using the SmartShop mobile service.

Bryan Roberts, Retail Futures Senior Partner at IGD, comments: “I’m sure a lot was learned during the deployment but the change now leaves Tesco, Amazon and Aldi (plus a few others) with checkout-free stores, although a load of them have shifted to hybrid models that have self-checkouts and regular checkouts that take cards and cash.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told RTIH: “SmartShop Pick & Go is no longer available in our Holborn Circus store. We continue to work with AWS across a range of projects and we are looking at how we can use technology to make shopping with us even simpler and more convenient in the future.”

Amazon Fresh

In November of last year, Amazon opened a new Amazon Fresh store in West Hampstead, London.

The US online giant launched its first such store in the UK - its first physical retail site outside North America - in Ealing, London in 2021. It reportedly planned to open hundreds of Fresh locations in the UK, but that didn’t happen, with the number now standing at 21, all of which are in London except one in Sevenoaks, Kent.

In July last year, the company announced Ealing was to close, along with two others, in Wandsworth and East Sheen.

Amazon has also been working on an overhaul of its UK stores, with the reopening of its Aldgate location last year. The stores originally launched as checkout-free offerings, powered by Just Walk Out technology. But the focus is now on adding more payment options, such as self-service checkouts.

When entering the West Hampstead location, customers walk through a non-gated entrance and shop for what they need. Just Walk Out technology enables them to open the Amazon app at the exit gate to pay and there is also the option to use a self-checkout till. 

A new opt-in feature allows customers to open the app when they are near the store and a QR code automatically pops up allowing them to pay. People can also pick up and return items purchased at Amazon UK from the in-store Amazon Hub counter and automated return kiosks.    

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Checkout free stores were a key focus area at the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering.