Amazon is expanding its Amazon One palm-based payment system to all 500 of its Whole Foods Market stores in the US, with the rollout expected to be completed later this year.
It means that, once registered, shoppers will no longer have to fumble with their phone or card to pay, instead simply waving their hand at the reader to pay for their goods. Cash can be used on Prime members who link their Amazon One account to their Amazon account.
Amazon launched its own salary-and-palm in 2020 and they currently offer it in about 200 stores in the US, so this latest expansion is significant.
Newbies to the system can register online with a credit or debit card, an Amazon account, and a mobile number. Setup is completed in-store with a palm scan on Amazon One on your next visit to a Whole Foods Market store. The system reads a person’s palm and internal vein to generate unique numbers, a vector representation, called a “palm signature,” similar to an identifier.
Alternatively, the entire registration process can be done in-store on an Amazon One device using a credit card and phone number.
“We’re always looking for new ways to delight our customers and improve their shopping experience,” Leandro Balbinot, chief technology officer at Whole Foods Market, said in a blog post on Amazon. “Since we introduced Amazon One to Whole Foods Market over the past two years, we’ve seen customers love our offerings, and we’re excited to bring Amazon One to all of our customers in the US.”
The system is a convenient way to pay, although some privacy advocates have raised concerns about Amazon collecting and storing biometric information linked to US citizens. On its website, Amazon says it does not share palm information with third parties unless it is required to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
Editor’s Note