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Amazon To Bring Checkout-free Store To London: Report

Online retail giant, Amazon is looking for sites in London’s West End to launch its checkout-free store in the UK, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The online retailer would likely to open its brick and mortar store, Amazon Go, near Oxford Circus, the paper added.


Amazon, however, declined to comment.

The tech firm has forayed into physical stores in January this year with the first Go store opened on the ground floor of an Amazon building in its hometown Seattle.

The checkout-free store works using computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.

The technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. Shoppers can leave the store when they are done and Amazon will send a receipt and charge their Amazon account later.

Amazon spent four years building Amazon Go in secret, before launching an employee-only pilot on its Seattle campus in 2016. It now has seven stores across Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, mostly catering to workers in nearby offices looking for a quick lunch.

Last week, Reuters reported that Amazon is looking at bringing its checkout-free store format to airports.

Amazon officials discussed the store concept with authorities at Los Angeles International and San Jose International Airport, the agency said citing public records requests.

Amazon is studying how to get the checkout-free stores into airports and that an employee with experience in business development was assigned to the task, Reuters added quoting a source familiar with the strategy.

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London tourist levy

The capital recorded 89 m overnight stays in 2024

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London to introduce tourist levy that could raise £240 million a year

Kumail Jaffer

Highlights

  • Government expected to give London powers to bring in a tourist levy on overnight stays.
  • GLA study says a £1 fee could raise £91m, a 5 per cent charge could generate £240m annually.
  • Research suggests London would not see a major fall in visitor numbers if levy introduced.
The mayor of London has welcomed reports that he will soon be allowed to introduce a tourist levy on overnight visitors, with new analysis outlining how a charge could work in the capital.
Early estimates suggest a London levy could raise as much as £240 m every year. The capital recorded 89 m overnight stays in 2024.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to give Sadiq Khan and other English city leaders the power to impose such a levy through the upcoming English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. London currently cannot set its own tourist tax, making England the only G7 nation where national government blocks local authorities from doing so.

A spokesperson for the mayor said City Hall supported the idea in principle, adding “The Mayor has been clear that a modest tourist levy, similar to other international cities, would boost our economy, deliver growth and help cement London’s reputation as a global tourism and business destination.”

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