Amazon took the contact-free payment game a notch higher when it rolled out the Amazon One Palm, a solution that lets a person pay with their palm prints.
And now the eCommerce giant is threatening to make it a staple payment in grocery stores having introduced it in one of Amazon Go stores at 11 W. 42nd Street in New Your City. This is the first time this payment solution has entered the East Coast market.
Amazon One, which is already a payment option at more than 10 stores has a strong foothold in the Seattle region, boasting a presence in places like Go Grocery and Whole Foods Market.
Rolled out back in September, the contactless bio-authentication tool leverages computer vision tech to identify buyers based on the uniqueness of their palm prints. All you have to do is wave or hoover your palm above the tool, and that’s it.
As Amazon put’s it on one.amazon.com (the official website for Amazon One), “No two palms are alike. Your palm is a unique part of you. It doesn’t go anywhere you don’t and can’t be used by anyone but you.”
Amazon One now joins the list of Amazon’s array of groundbreaking grocery tech which includes solutions like,
- in-garage grocery delivery ;
- Alexa features and the Dash Cart
- Amazon Just Walk Out autonomous checkout technology
With the launch of Amazon One, the giant rerailer seeks to increase shopper visits to grocery stores after the significant drop in traffic seen last year.
In the early stages of Coronavirus, the number of buyers visiting Whole Foods dropped significantly. In fact, the grocery store is yet to recover to its 2019 figures. Though Whole Foods is witnessing a steady weekly traffic increase, still these per-week visits remained down almost 18 percent at the close of March 2020, put side by side with 2019 March. (Placer.ai.) In some cases, new governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) ordinances Whole Foods has put in place has slowed down in-store traffic even more.
Amazon’s focus on Whole Foods is a reinforcement of Amazon’s plans over the past years to expand the chain store through various strategies like discounts, Prime membership, in-store returns, etc.
Author Bio: Content crafter Alex Wilmont has been active in the payments industry for over 15 years. He lives simply, gives generously, and loves his 2 dogs. Alex understands the ins and outs of Wix payments and all about online payments. His mission is to enhance and innovate the fintech industry for years to come.
