Brazil’s GPA taps Microsoft to test ‘Amazon Go’-like technologies

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian food retailer GPA SA plans to open its first store to test technologies such as facial recognition and “scan & go” shopping by year-end, following in the footsteps of parent company Casino, which opened a checkout-free store in Paris last November.

The Sao Paulo-based store, which will use technology from Microsoft Corp, makes GPA the latest supermarket chain to experiment with formats similar to Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Go checkout-free convenience stores the Web-based retailer has rolled out in the United States.

The GPA store will also follow a partnership struck in March by rival Carrefour Brasil to set up a fully automated 24-hour convenience store with local startup Zaitt.

Britain’s J Sainsbury Plc and Tesco Plc have also said they were experimenting with technologies allowing shoppers to skip the checkout line by scanning products from the shelves and paying with a smartphone app.

“People already use their mobile phone when shopping in our stores to activate promotions in the apps or skip the lines … Now we…