Tesco’s second ‘checkout-free’ GetGo store is being launched in central London in the coming weeks, featuring a bank of self-service terminals.
The supermarket’s first checkout-free store opened in High Holborn in October last year, following a successful trial of the technology at Tesco’s colleague store in Welwyn Garden City, which has been in place since 2019.
Entry gates and camera arrays were spotted at the Tesco Express in Chiswell Street near The Barbican in London by Toby Pickard, head of innovations and futures at IGD.
The new store will use the same technology as rival Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech, which is provided by Israeli startup Trigo. Tesco announced an equity investment in Trigo in 2019.
The GetGo stores are fitted with cameras on the ceiling and on-shelf weight sensors that monitor customer movements and product picks, so they can pick items and walk out without stopping at a checkout.
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Speaking to media during preliminary results call in April this year, Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said while the Trigo tech “works really, really well” and customers are responding, “we’re now working on a hybrid model that allows customers to do either grab and go and completely frictionless or checkout on exit.”
“We’ll see how that works as well,” he added.
Pickard said the hybrid approach “makes a lot of sense as it offers shoppers a familiar way to shop while also offering an even more seamless approach for those that want to embrace new cashierless technology and potentially avoid having to queue.”
The Chiswell Street store can be accessed by any shopper, whereas Tesco’s first GetGo store is only accessible to those using the Tesco app.
“We expect Tesco to pursue a hybrid shopping experience as this could help onboard shoppers to this new way of shopping,” Pickard added.
“We have seen a number of other retailers around the world embrace the hybrid approach, as often new technologies require shopper behaviour change, which can take time.”
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