Amazon is coming to Europe with its high-tech shopping concept.
For privacy advocates, however, the technology is causing discomfort.
London - Amazon brings its cashless supermarkets to Europe.
On Thursday (March 4th) the retail giant opened its first Amazon Fresh Store in London.
Further locations in the British capital are to follow.
With the concept, customers can simply take the goods off the shelf and leave the store.
Hundreds of cameras and countless sensors such as scales register which goods customers choose.
After leaving the store, payments are made automatically via a smartphone app.
Amazon Fresh: Take the goods off the shelf, go out, done
Competitors like Tesco or Marks and Spencer are experimenting with similar concepts.
However, customers there still have to scan their purchases themselves, for example with their smartphones.
“We know that customers in the UK want to shop conveniently and we believe they will appreciate simply walking out with the purchases they need,” said Amazon Fresh CEO Matt Birch at the opening.
The company founded by Jeff Bezos has already gained a lot of experience with the technology in the USA.
Amazon opened the first cash-free stores in the USA in 2018 under the Amazon Go brand.
The company now operates 28 Amazon Go stores in its home market, including in San Francisco, New York and Seattle, where the group is also based.
Amazon Fresh: High-tech shopping causes discomfort
However, privacy advocates view high-tech shopping technology with discomfort.
Amazon is working on "total surveillance when shopping," warned the head of civil rights activists at Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo.
By tracking shopping habits, the group gains more extensive knowledge of its customers than any other retail company in the world.
Amazon, which was just having trouble with its shop app *, rejects the allegations.
The customer data from the visits to Amazon Fresh would be deleted after 30 days, the company assured.
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Amazon Fresh Store in London: Thanks to countless cameras and sensors, all you need to pay is an app.
© Victoria Jones / dpa
In addition to everyday products, Amazon customers can also return their Internet orders in stores.
All the customers have to do is scan a barcode.
Packaging and labeling for the return are no longer necessary.
Amazon Fresh: Germany plans unclear
The new London Amazon store is relatively small at around 230 square meters.
It is unclear whether the Internet giant will also roll out the concept in Germany.
No announcement was made in this regard, ”said an Amazon spokeswoman on request.
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