The history of EPOS till systems has been one of increasing the convenience and ease of the shopping experience for both customers and members of staff alike.

From early mechanical tills and complex warehousing systems powered by supercomputers, electronic point-of-sale systems have evolved to more modern checkouts and self-checkout systems, which have become increasingly affordable for even smaller businesses over the years.

However, some retailers attempted to go even further by creating stores that completely removed checkouts entirely and instead uses a combination of complex sensors, scanners and online accounts to keep track of purchases and pay before they leave.

The first in the UK was Sainsbury’s Holborn Circus Local store, powered using a “Pay & Go” app, but the most famous and most ambitious was Amazon Go, which scanned an app at the start of a customer’s shop and kept track of them throughout their trip.

Anything they picked up would be added to a virtual cart and anything removed would be subtracted from it, and tracked using an elaborate combination of cameras and weight scales.

Once a customer was finished, the shopping would be automatically charged without the need for a checkout.

Initially, the concept generated a lot of curiosity, and it was praised as potentially the future of retail, were it not for a major fundamental misunderstanding of retail.

Amazon, as well as Sweetgreen and other retailers who had gone till-less, assumed that people were ready to accept a wholly cashless shopping experience, but far more people than they expected were reliant on cash.

A lot of people who use cash do not have a bank account and often have a lower income than the national average, and a shop that inherently does not accept cash was increasingly seen as discriminatory, as well as off-putting for people who wanted to use a regular till.

Eventually, legislation began to be enacted that would require all retailers to accept cash, which led to Amazon Go having dedicated cash tills and other “till-less” stores following suit.