Tesco GetGo Learns From Amazon To Debut London Shop-And-Go Store

The U.K.’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco, this week launched its first checkout-free store to the public in High Holborn, Central London.

Named GetGo, the grocery giant’s move follows the debut of an Amazon Fresh payment-free store in Ealing, west London, just over six months ago and heralds an increasingly intense battle to remove the biggest point of friction for U.K. supermarket shoppers – payment.

Amazon Fresh AMZN now has six just-walk-out stores in London, while German discounter Aldi has opened a pilot shop-and-go store in Greenwich, London, and Morrisons – recently acquired by U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) – is also working on a no-pay concept.

And although Tesco is not the first to market with the shop-and-go concept, signs from the opening days of its new format are that is has sought to learn from the trials and tribulations of its rivals in order to fine tune the offering and make it attractive for customers.

The big question is who has got the format right so far?

Tesco GetGo Learns From Amazon Fresh

Visitors to the 2,000-sqft Tesco Express convenience shop in High Holborn need to download and use the Tesco App in order to check in to the branch, select groceries, and leave without using a physical cash-till. Instead, they will be charged to the card linked with their Tesco grocery App and will receive a receipt after leaving the store.

Cameras and weight-sensors are being used to observe what people have bought, and to help the retailer calculate the correct bill for the grocery basket. The AI system works by building a 'unique skeleton outline' of each shopper as opposed to using facial recognition.

The shop looks very similar to any other Tesco Express convenience store, offering the usual range of goods, from sandwiches and snacks to ready meals and bakery items, plus every day essentials. Cigarettes and alcohol are sold in a separate zone where a member of staff is present to check that shoppers comply with age restrictions.

The AI technology in the Holborn store has been developed in partnership with the specialist technology firm Trigo, led by two brothers, leading AI computer scientist Daniel Gaby and CEO Michael, who previously held a technology role with the Israeli military. 

The existing store was cashless and people used self-service tills and it is also close to a store trial run by Sainsbury’s two years ago, which ran for just three months after the supermarket group concluded that customers were not ready for a till-free store. 

Sainsbury's reintroduced a manned till and two self-checkout points in its Holborn Circus store after removing tills in April 2019 and enabling customers to use the Smartshop app to scan groceries as they browsed the store, pay in the app and scan a code before leaving to confirm payment.

However, customers found the mobile QR codes difficult to scan when leaving the store, prompting the supermarket to design new ones. Other shoppers were unwilling to use their mobile data allowance to download the Sainsbury’s app, and found the store’s wi-fi sign up process too long. 

Shoppers More Comfortable With Technology

But that was pre-pandemic, when many customers were far less used to cashless and contactless payments and online shopping for their groceries. Time, and consumer behaviors because of COVID, have changed all that.

Tesco said this week's launch follows a trial at its store used by staff within the group’s Welwyn Garden City HQ which began in 2019 and Kevin Tindall, managing director, Tesco Convenience, told London's Evening Standard: “Our High Holborn store is really popular with customers who want to pop in and grab a meal deal on their lunch break, or something for dinner on the way home. Our new seamless checkout system will make this even quicker and easier, saving them valuable checkout and queuing time.”

Tindall said this is currently just a one-store trial, but added: “We’re looking forward to seeing how our customers respond.”

In July Morrisons also revealed that it was trialling an Amazon Go-style store, open only to staff but with a public launch imminent. It is working with Aifi on the technology, which uses only cameras to detect what customers have picked from shelves, and does not make use of sensors on shelves.