The automated shop in Seattle works by tracking users everywhere they go and automatically charging them for any items they take.
Amazon has opened a supermarket in Seattle with one key difference to high street competitors – it has no check outs.
Instead of bringing goods to a human or self-service cashier, the Amazon Go supermarket uses cameras on the ceiling to identify customers and monitor them as they pick up items from around the shop.
Customers entering the store use the Amazon Go app on their smartphone to scan through the automatic turnstiles.
The automation continues as they walk around, with sensors on the shelves adding items to their digital “basket” as they pick up material goods.
When the customer is detected leaving the store, their account is automatically debited to the value of the items in their digital basket.
The store first opened to Amazon employees in December 2016, when Amazon said it expected members of the public to be allowed in by early the following year.
According to a person familiar with the matter, there have been a number of difficulties which set this date back.
The surveillance system incorrectly identified shoppers with similar body types, the insider said, and when children entered the store they ruined the system by moving goods about on shelves.
Last June, Amazon signalled its desire to have a large impact on the groceries market when it agreed to buy upmarket grocery chain Whole Foods in a deal worth $13.7bn (£10.7bn).
It is not expected that Amazon will introduce the technology in its Amazon Go store to its Whole Foods outlets.
