Less than a year after its launch of its Amazon Go chain of checkout-free shops, Amazon.com Inc. is looking to expand the stores to 3,000 locations, including the United Kingdom.

The stores, originally starting with a concept store in Amazon’s home town of Seattle, use what the company refers to as “Just Walk Out Technology.” It uses computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensors to detect when a customer picks up an item from the shelf or returns it.

While spawning an entire genre of YouTube videos dedicated to how easy it is to steal items from it, Amazon is confident enough to expand its physical store presence. Business Insider reported Friday that the e-commerce giant is planning up to 3,000 Go stores within the next three years.

The format of the stores to be rolled out is not clear. There are currently four Amazon Go stores, three in Seattle and one in Chicago, and they are split between a small grocery store format and another format focused primarily on prepared food.

Across the Atlantic, The Times reported Saturday that “Amazon is working on acquiring a significant number of small retail sites as it lays the groundwork to bring its checkout-free grocery shops to Britain.”

The report claimed that Amazon is seeking retail locations between 4,000 square feet and 5,000 square feet with. The Next Web suggested that it probably will be a small-scale supermarket “that will likely hold more product than the equivalently sized traditional supermarket.”

In both the U.S. and now the U.K., Amazon believes that despite a very crowded market, its format sans-cashiers and hence lines can take on existing retailers and win.

The irony, however, of Amazon selling goods in physical locations isn’t lost on many, given the company is often blamed for not only upending retail sales in the U.S. but also destroying booksellers, the most notable Borders Group Inc.

Conversely, Amazon is using its cloud computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence know-how in the new stores, arguably taking physical retail to another level.

Photo: Amazon