Is the beginning of the end of the shopping till in sight?

Picture this – no more shopping tills, no more staff, no more human interaction, no more community ethos, no more chat and laughter.

Is this the future of retail – is this really the customer experience people want?

Amazon opened it’s first till free outlet on Ealing Broadway last week – Amazon Fresh – which enables customers to walk in, walk out with their groceries charged to their Amazon account.

Using a mobile app, with a QR code scanned on entry, everything is recorded and tallied up – with the detailed receipt then sent to your phone.

There’s no denying that Amazon’s Steve Bezos has the Midas touch – since he first started selling books online – he’s become one of the world’s richest men, and a pioneer of technological advancement.

Soon, even self-scan could be a thing of the past. The future is here – and Amazon Fresh will be opening further outlets in GB.

Not only has Covid changed the world, so has Amazon. Market research analysts are clear that consumer behaviour has changed dramatically.

With Amazon piloting drone deliveries in Dublin last year, and Prime making doorstep drops a daily occurrence, the wise retailer will be watching these trends, not just with trepidation, but considering how to adapt and survive.

With Amazon’s large distribution centres already in Northern Ireland, it’s only a matter of time before the Amazon Fresh concept edges in to the Northern Ireland market.

It won’t happen overnight, but it’s coming. As JFK famously said, change of the Law of life. And those who look only to the past or present, are sure to miss the future.

He could just as easily been talking about local retailing in 2021.