J Sainsbury PLC, the second-biggest grocery store chain in the U.K., will become the first in the country to open a store using Amazon.com Inc.’s Just Walk Out technology.

According to Bloomberg, which first reported the story today, the AI-powered store will open on Nov. 29 in London. On its own website, Sainsbury’s calls the store a “Pick and Go” branch, which sounds very similar to one of Amazon’s cashierless stores.

Nonetheless, the chain didn’t say the tech is coming from Amazon, only stating on its website, “We’ve partnered with a third-party supplier to use their in-store machine learning, camera and shelf technology to keep track of what items you’ve picked up and what items you’ve put back.”

Why it is a secret that Amazon is the company supplying the tech remains a mystery. Both companies have refused to issue a comment about it, although Bloomberg says it talked people “familiar with the matter.”

The store will be located in the High Holborn area, close to the headquarters of Sainsbury’s. Customers will be able to scan into the store using a QR code, after which they can put the device away.

The rest will be taken care of via surveillance technology. Once the shoppers have left the store, they’ll see the bill on their phones. On its website, Sainsbury’s said all data will be wiped after 30 days, adding that the store won’t use the controversial face recognition technology.

Amazon opened its first cashierless store back in 2018, and since then, branches have been opening at a fairly fast speed. There are now 29 locations located in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco and London. Sainsbury’s is the first store to be fitted with Amazon’s tech in the U.K., but not in the U.S.

In 2020, the largest chain in the U.K., Tesco PLC, opened its first cashierless store – without the help of Amazon. It used Trigo Vision tech.

For grocery store chains, the question is whether to spend big on such technology, but during the pandemic and likely for the near future, the less contact people have with others, the better. Without a doubt, such stores are also very convenient.

Photo: Hoboh Official/Flickr