A former Amazon executive has claimed that Amazon’s ‘just walk out’ stores have made every grocery supermarket around the world “obsolete.”

Brittain Ladd, who previously specialised in worldwide e-commerce and cross border expansion for Amazon Fresh, said that the cashier-free technology is saving Amazon millions in labour costs annually across every store.

"This provides Amazon with a significant competitive advantage,” wrote the ex-Amazon exec in a LinkedIn post.

The comments come after internal documents seen by Business Insider revealed the technology giant plans to open 260 new checkout-free shops across the UK.

“Unfortunately for the grocery industry, Amazon is just getting started," added Ladd. "The pinnacle of their success won't be Just Walk Out technology, it will be the fulfilment and last mile delivery network currently being implemented.

"Amazon's logistics strategy has incorrectly been described as being similar to the tentacles of an octopus. It is in fact more similar to the web of a Darwin bark spider that makes the largest spider web in the world.”

But he said that Amazon's strategy is not flawless, suggesting the company has "failed to improve Whole Foods" and that it should divest the business.

The chief executive of Sensei, which builds autonomous stores in the UK and EU, said that for European businesses to match Amazon’s growing presence in the grocery market they need to “bring the online shopping behaviour to in person experiences.”

“Retailers must be progressive in their thinking and strategic in their actions,” said Vasco Portugal, chief exec and co-founder, Sensei. “Capitalising on existing brick and mortar locations to include online best practices such as frictionless shopping will strategically position their company not as one we knew, but one we want to get to know.”

Amazon currently has six Amazon Fresh stores in the UK. The first was opened in Ealing in March.

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