// Aldi eyes possible checkout-free store format with after filing Shop & Go trademark
// Comes after Amazon launched two grocery stores in London that do not have checkouts
Aldi could potentially be looking at opening a checkout-free store after trademarking “Shop & Go” with the Intellectual Property Office.
According to Retail Week, Aldi’s trademarking of “Shop & Go” was linked to new technology investments, including a new store with self-scanning handsets for customers or no checkouts.
The details of the trademark are thin, but it comes just weeks after Amazon launched three Amazon Fresh casherliess stores in west London – the first of its kind outside the US.
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It also comes after Aldi Süd – the German-headquartered company that owns Aldi UK – placed a call for expressions of interest from tech firms on its website last year.
The firm had sought companies developing “sensor-based item monitoring in stores” with “real or near-real time” stock level monitoring, as well as shelf or basket sensors or “use of handheld devices or robots”.
A spokesperson from Aldi UK said the retailer does not comment on speculation.
“We regularly develop and trademark new brands that we might want to protect in the future,” they told Retail Gazette.
Amazon already has a batch of contactless convenience stores across the US already, all of which trade under the Amazon Go fascia.
It had opened the first ever Amazon Fresh store in LA in August last year, this time a full-sized physical grocery store compared to the convenience format of Amazon Go.
The first Amazon Fresh outside the US store opened in London in March, and since then two more have opened up.
Meanwhile, Aldi’s push into technology investment has been evident since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it launched its first ever online service last April for vulnerable customers.
Since then it has widened its online delivery offering through a Deliveroo partnership and expanded its click-and-collect service to more than 200 UK stores.
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