London — Amazon.com is laying the groundwork to bring its checkout-free grocery store, Amazon Go, to Europe, as the US giant steps up its efforts to crack the $800bn global market. The UK intellectual property office on Friday approved the Seattle-based company’s application to trademark the slogans "No lines. No checkout. (No, seriously)" and "No queue. No checkout. (No, seriously)". A corresponding application is being reviewed by the EU’s equivalent agency. The strap line is used in a promotional video for Amazon Go on YouTube that has been viewed more than 9-million times. The company has opened a futuristic test store under that name in Seattle that has no staff or checkouts. Instead, it uses sensors and a smartphone application to top up customers’ "virtual shopping carts" when they remove items from shelves and place them in their bags. When they leave the store, Amazon adds up the cost of items purchased and charges shoppers’ accounts. Amazon declined to comment. The company...
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