For years, “frictionless” was retail’s golden promise. No queues, no checkouts, just glide in, pick up your groceries, and walk out while invisible tech takes care of the bill. Amazon championed the vision with its Fresh stores in the UK and US, powered by its proprietary Just Walk Out technology. Yet here we are in 2025, and Amazon is quietly retreating from the model with news that it will close all 19 of its stores in London. A rethink, a reset, or perhaps a rare admission t
sion that even the biggest tech retailer on earth doesn’t always get it right. So, what went wrong – and what does it tell us about the future of grocery?
Tech isn’t the same as trust
Amazon invested heavily in its checkout-free promise, wiring stores with cameras, sensors, and AI to track every movement. On paper, it was brilliant. In reality, shoppers were sceptical. A grocery shop isn’t the same as ordering books or batteries online. People still want transparency: to see their items, their totals, their savings. The lack of a clear “moment of transaction” unnerved many and reports of receipt errors didn’t help.
Retail isn’t just about removing friction – it’s about building confidence. Sometimes, adding a tiny bit of “friction” (a digital screen showing your running total, or a staff member at the exit) is required to make customers feel comfortable.
The economics don’t stack up
Here’s the other truth – frictionless isn’t cheap. Outfitting stores with ceiling-mounted cameras and weight-sensitive shelving is costly. Maintaining them even more so. The model only works at scale if it increases sales, reduces labour, or generates new revenue streams. Amazon struggled to prove any of the above in groceries, where margins are notoriously thin.
It’s the same lesson every retailer faces with shiny new tech: does it shift the P&L, or is it just a PR stunt? Amazon discovered what many already suspected – innovation has to earn its keep.
Hybrid is the new horizon
Amazon hasn’t given up on grocery; it’s just pivoting. More than 60 stores across the US remain, and in the UK, it plans to convert five of its locations into Whole Foods Market shops, the grocery chain it acquired in 2017.
Last year, Amazon revealed it was moving towards Dash Carts, which are scanners and screens embedded in shopping carts, allowing shoppers to check out as they shop. It’s a move that looks less futuristic, but more practical. It doesn’t require 1,000 people in India watching shoppers as they move through the aisles, which is what some alleged was really behind the Just Walk Out tech.
The insight for retailers everywhere: hybrid beats hardline. Customers want options. Tech should enhance the store, not dictate it.
Closer to home, Woolworths’ Scan & Go trials, Coles’ smart trolley pilots and even Aldi’s experiments with self-checkout show that incremental innovation is often better received than wholesale reinvention. The future of grocery isn’t “no checkout”, it’s flexible checkout.
Lessons for retailers
Amazon’s retreat is not a failure of imagination, but a reminder that retail innovation must land in the sweet spot between technology, economics and human behaviour. The temptation is always to chase what’s next. The smarter play is to focus on what works.
If you’re considering adding cutting-edge tech to your store, ask yourself the following:
Does this tech solve a real pain point for the customer?
Does it create measurable efficiency for the business?
Does it enhance trust, transparency and the shopping experience?
If the answer isn’t yes to all three, then maybe it’s a distraction.
Because in grocery, the fundamentals still rule: fresh food, sharp prices, trusted value. Tech is the amplifier, not the main event. Amazon’s grocery retreat is proof that the future of frictionless will still have a few bumps along the way.
Simon Porter is the head of retail at media agency Hatched.
Further reading: 200 stores are just the beginning: Amazon VP talks checkout-free tech
