Amazon is temporarily closing one of its Amazon Fresh stores to remove entry barriers and install technology to accept card payments.
Customers in Angel, London, will have the option to pay by card on exit when it reopens after two days of “renovation” on 13 April.
The latest two Amazon Fresh stores to launch – in Croydon and at Monument – opened with card payment and staffed checkouts as an option. At the stores, customers can opt to either take items from shelves and scan a QR code presented on their Amazon app at the exit gate, tap their card on exit, or “choose the more traditional method of paying at a checkout” an Amazon spokeswoman explained.
The Angel store – which previously required shoppers to have an Amazon account and scan the app to enter the store – will be closed from the evening of April 11 “as we add new ways for our customers to pay” the spokeswoman said.
“We are excited to offer added convenience to customers by optimising their Just Walk Out shopping experience,” she added.
In January, Amazon shuttered a checkout-less Amazon Fresh store in the UK for the first time. The store in Dalston closed less than 18 months after it launched, with Amazon confirming the move was permanent.
Experts blamed the choice of location on its failure rather than the Just Walk Out technology. However, the multiple requirements on consumers to start shopping at the stores have been called into question.
“Amazon is always innovating on behalf of the customer and we will continue to find ways in which we can better serve our customers,” the spokeswoman said. “We’re excited to welcome customers into these stores and look forward to their feedback.”
The Angel store is currently the only one closed for renovations.
Earlier this year Amazon CEO Andy Jassy confirmed grocery was “a really important and strategic area for us”.
“We’re doing a fair bit of experimentation today in those [Amazon Fresh] stores to try to find a format that we think resonates with customers, is differentiated in some meaningful fashion and where we like the economics,” Jassy said.
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