It Made It a Joy to Shop the Store: Miya Knights on Autonomous Retail

Insights from Miya Knights, Editor & Publisher of Retail Technology Magazine

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When Miya Knights visited Sensei-powered stores, she came with a sharp eye for both retail reality and retail hype — and she left impressed. The combination of cutting-edge technology and thoughtful store design truly stood out.

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A Grocery Experience Reimagined

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Touring a Continente supermarket with Sensei’s scan-free, checkout-light technology, Miya experienced firsthand what frictionless shopping feels like in a full-sized store. Coming from the UK, where grocery experiences tend to converge across four major players, she noticed a clear difference in Europe.

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The store was light, airy, and celebrated fresh produce, enhanced by technology that made shopping effortless. Customers could grab coffee, pick up hot food, and shop for fresh goods — then confirm their basket and pay in seconds.

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“It really did take a lot of the friction that we associate with grocery shopping away from the customer.”

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Fixing Retail’s Margin Problem

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Miya highlighted how thin margins in food retail have pushed grocers to offload labor onto customers via self-scanning and packing. While efficient for retailers, it can be frustrating for shoppers.

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Sensei’s approach flips this equation: removing friction while maintaining profitability. In fact, the store she visited was gaining share from nearby competitors, showing that customers value the easy checkout experience.

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Not a Black Box — A Better Blend

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Autonomous didn’t mean impersonal. The store still had fishmongers, deli specialists, and staff assisting customers — blending the best of traditional retail with modern automation.

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“It was truly the grocery store of the future in the fact that it took the best of the past and married the best of today’s technology — for the benefit of the customer and the retailer.”

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Beyond Grocery — A Transferable Model

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Miya also visited Sensei’s newly opened autonomous para-pharmacy, applying the same scan-free technology to health and beauty in a 24/7 unmanned format. This demonstrated the versatility of autonomous retail across store types and customer journeys.

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“It showed me that this kind of technology is transferable to pretty much any store format.”

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Inside the Sensei Dojo

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The visit concluded at the Sensei Dojo — the technology lab where the system comes to life.

There, Miya saw the smart computer vision cameras embedded in ceilings, the weight-sensitive shelves triangulating product picks, and the precision that ensures every item is accurately attributed to each shopper’s basket.

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“The amount of research and development that Sensei has put into really solving some key issues around the affordability and the accuracy of autonomous stores is really to be admired.”

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At Sensei, technology works quietly, seamlessly, and at scale — enhancing the store without getting in the way. After touring the stores, Miya saw how autonomous retail stops feeling like innovation and simply feels effortless.

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