Sainsbury’s has removed Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ technology from its checkout-free London store, returning the site to more traditional checkout solutions.

The Holborn Circus convenience store first introduced the ‘SmartShop Pick & Go’ concept, which is powered by Amazon’s technology in November 2021. It allows customers to enter by scanning a QR code generated by the Sainsbury’s app, where they can shop and pick items before leaving the store.

However, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson told Grocery Gazette that ‘Smartshop Pick & Go’ “is no longer available” in the store, as the supermarket shifts back to a model featuring a customer kiosk with a till and two self-checkouts, alongside SmartShop mobile pay.

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The spokesperson added: “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.”

It follows a similar move by Amazon Fresh last April, when it ditched its ‘Just Walk Out’ checkout-free feature in its US stores, to be replaced with “smart trolley technology”.

In the UK, Amazon Fresh continues to operate checkout-free stores, alongside both Tesco and Aldi.

However, while these retailers first introduced the stores as being entirely checkout-free, many of these sites have since been adapted to hybrid models.

In 2022, Tesco introduced a hybrid format at its Chiswell Street, Fulham Reach, London and Aston University Express GetGo stores, adding the option of self-service or attended checkouts if preferred, alongside the checkout-free technology.