Amazon looks to expand check-out free concept without cashier

Amazon appears set to open its second and third queue free grocery stores in Chicago and San Francisco, a sign that the e-commerce giant is ready to start scaling up its wildly successful supermarket concept.

After launching its first Amazon Go store in Seattle earlier this year the company has begun posting job openings for store managers in both cities, US media reported overnight.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Geekwire that the company is opening the locations, although no timetable was provided.

The grocery concept garnered global attention when it was unveiled in late 2016, primarily because the store has no check-out and instead uses a range of intelligent cameras to charge customers automatically when they pick up items and walk out of the store.

It has been dubbed as Amazon’s attempt to re-invent the supermarket amid the company’s ongoing efforts to claim a greater share of the global grocery pie.

Expansion is a signal that Amazon believes it is ready to start scaling up the concept after navigating a range of technical challenges to open the store in 2017.

Last year the Seattle-based business purchased grocery giant Whole Foods in the US to supercharge its efforts in the category, but it appears the Go concept is being kept separate from that investment.