More on Amazon's Palm Scanning System

Amazon Bringing Palm-Scanning Payment System to Whole Foods Stores

CNBC, Annie Palmer, April 21, 2021

Amazon's palm-scanning payment system will be rolled out to a Whole Foods store in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood before expanding to seven other Whole Foods stores in the area in the coming months. About a dozen Amazon physical stores already offer the Amazon One payment system, which allows shoppers who have linked a credit card to their palm print to pay for items by holding their palm over a scanning device. Amazon says the palm-scanning system is "highly secure" and more private than facial recognition and other biometric systems. The company says thousands of people have signed up to use the system at the Amazon stores.... '

Palm Swipe Scanning at Whole Foods

 We experimented with a number of ID/payment methods.   From Iris to thumbprint to Face.   But not palm swipe scanning, installed at Wholefoods now. Contact-less.

Amazon to let Whole Foods shoppers pay with a swipe of their palm   By Jeffrey Dastin

 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said it is rolling out biometric technology at its Whole Foods stores around Seattle starting on Wednesday, letting shoppers pay for items with a scan of their palm.

The move shows how Amazon is bringing some of the technology already in use at its namesake brick-and-mortar Go and Books stores to the grocery chain it acquired in 2017.

The system, called Amazon One, lets customers associate a credit card with their palm print. It offers a contact-less alternative to cash and card payments, Amazon said.  .... " 

QR Code Comeback?

We were very early experimenters and appliers, so this caught my eye.  Good story in current context, With further expert opinion in retail.   Will it last post-pandemic? 

How did QR codes go from DOA to killer app?  by Matthew Stern in Retailwire

About a decade ago QR codes were looking like a hot new technology, popping up on billboards throughout the U.S. and enticing smartphone users to scan. But without a pressing use case and with minimal customer adoption, within a few years of that they became something closer to a running joke.

In the past few years, brands have begun taking another look at QR codes and some experts are now adding them to the list of technologies that the novel coronavirus pandemic has helped turn into a part of daily life.

Contactless payment, pulling up digital menus, self-serve ordering, touchless shopping and contact-free returns are but a few of the pandemic-era uses for QR codes that Ad Exchanger senior editor Allison Schiff cited in an article from late 2020.

The technology has been leveraged by businesses of all sizes, too. Small companies have been using the technology with pop-ups to let customers arrange delivery or pickup for products not available on hand. Big chains like CVS have begun allowing the use of QR codes for payment. ... " 

Publix Goes Contactless

Contactless payment influenced by virus fears?

Publix Goes Contactless
By Bridget Goldschmidt - 04/03/2020  in ProgressiveGrocer

Contactless payment station in a Tampa, Fla., Publix store

Publix Super Markets is offering a contactless payment method at all of its stores, including GreenWise Markets, to address customer concerns about touching surfaces that might be contaminated by the coronavirus. At presstime, the rollout of the system was expected to be completed by Saturday, April 4.   ... " 

Palm Scanning Patent by Amazon

I recall we looked at this, as well as retina scans, for identification.     Less perception of invasion  perceived with palms, but also had some other issues.   Maintaining changes would be one issue.

Amazon wants to patent technology that could identify shoppers by their hands
The system could someday be used in Amazon Go or Whole Foods stores.

By Jason Del Rey@DelRey in Vox

Today, visitors to Amazon Go cashierless stores need to scan an app to get in. In the future, Amazon may instead ask to just scan their hands instead.

The US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Amazon on Thursday for a touchless scanning system that would identify people not by their faces but by characteristics associated with the palms of their hands, including wrinkles and veins. .....  "

Kroger Pay Launching

Seems like a very late launch, Kroger is linking its loyalty card with smartphone based systems.  Starting in Columbus Ohio.  From the Kroger company:

Kroger Pay FAQs
What is Kroger Pay?

Kroger Pay is a new, fast, safe way to pay and save using your mobile device at participating locations in the Kroger Family of Companies. Kroger Pay generates a one-time use quick response code (“QR Code”) that securely transmits payment information from your mobile phone at check out. In addition, your Kroger Pay wallet is linked to your Kroger Co. Family of Stores Rewards program loyalty account, enabling you to automatically accrue loyalty points when making an eligible purchase using Kroger Pay. Simply scan the Kroger Pay QR Code at any time during checkout for a faster, more convenient experience. 

Where can I use Kroger Pay?

Kroger Pay is accepted at participating in-store locations* in the Kroger Family of Companies in the United States. Kroger Pay is not accepted at Kroger Fuel Centers, certain independent merchants within Kroger stores or online and cannot be used at stores outside of the Kroger Family of Companies. ... "

*Currently, Kroger Pay is accepted in stores in our Columbus division, with more stores coming soon.  .... "

Kroger Does Mobile Payments

Surprised this has taken this long, getting to be an expectation in retail:

JPMorgan Strikes Deal With Kroger for Mobile Payments
By Jennifer Surane  and Craig Giammona in Bloomberg

" ... Kroger Co., the largest U.S. supermarket chain, will begin offering JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Pay mobile wallet in certain markets beginning next year, the two companies said Tuesday in a statement. The partnership will be Kroger’s first venture into mobile payments as the retailer seeks to bring its shopping experience into the digital age. ... " 

Fashionable Contactless Payment

Interesting aspect, a sort of tagging, but with fashion it seems.

Timex's new watch collection includes contactless payment straps
Barclaycard's bPay contactless chips are hiding under the leather.  ....  " 

By Jamie Rigg, @jmerigg  in Engadget.

Buy with a Smile

KFC Just Started Letting Customers Pay In a Way That Could Change Everything    By Chris Matyszczyk   in Inc.  ....

Never, though, has one of the monolithic fast food brands tried what this KFC is doing.

As the South China Morning Post reports, a KFC-owned restaurant called KPRO -- an oddly healthy place that serves salads, panini and fresh juice -- is allowing customers to pay with a smile.

I tried getting away with something similar in one or two restaurants during my teens. It didn't work well, as the owners quickly demanded, well, money. Or else.

Here, though, you walk up to a large screen. You use a touchscreen to select the very healthy food you'd like to quickly consume.   Then you click on the Smile To Pay feature.   It uses facial recognition to decide who you are. .... " 

Also, more detail in The Verge.

IOT Contactless Payment by Visa

I continued a look into contactless payments by Smartphone,  and found this recent mention of work Visa is doing to make payment even easier.   Making anything IOT a payment system.    Seems that this could quickly be added to the many assistants out there now.

Visa dreams of turning your entire home into a cash register
And your hand into a credit card.      Kris Naudus, @krisnaudus  in Engadget:

" ... In a world where you can pay for goods with the tap of your phone, send money to anyone with an app and do most of your shopping online, credit cards seem a bit long in the tooth. Visa is looking to toss them almost completely, replacing them with a process that makes paying for stuff online as simple as tapping any internet-connected device in your house, no credit card terminals or filling in of forms needed.   ....  "

"  .... Visa has worked to make the technology even smaller and cheaper, putting it into a small plastic sticker that a company rep affixed to the back of my hand for a demo. It's so small and unobtrusive that it feels like we're not far from more-permanent subdermal implants.  .... "