Amazon is reportedly scouting London locations for an automated supermarket without checkouts that would be staffed by just three humans.
Robots on the top floor of the two-storey store will grab shopping from shelves and bring it down to customers who will be waiting in their cars below.
Shoppers’ Amazon account will then be billed automatically.
Using robots in the upper floors means that Amazon could pack for more items into a small space than conventional supermarkets.
Each store could pack in 15,000-20,000 items at a time.
The Amazon Go idea was unveiled in a video released by the online retail giant in December. Now, according to The Times, nearly a dozen potential locations have been identified.
A revolutionary grocery store is currently being trialled for employees in Seattle, where sensors record when a customer lifts an item from a shelf to bill them automatically.
The convenience store mooted for London could reach anywhere between 10,000 and 40,000 square feet, and sell over different 4,000 products such as eggs, meats, cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables, and ‘grab-it-and-go’ products like beer and wine.
Amazon has also started using drones for deliveries instead of humans, and filed patents for an unmanned blimp that could be used as a floating warehouse.
With such a small number of staff needed to run each store operating profit costs of Amazon’s supermarkets could be above 20 per cent.
Despite the rumours, Amazon officials denied the company was planning a robot-driven supermarket chain.
“As we’ve said previously, it’s not correct,” a spokesman told The New York Post.
“We have no plans to build such a store.”
The US firm trademarked the Amazon Go name in the UK last year and has made steps into the grocery market with its online Amazon Fresh delivery service.