Amazon Extends Amazon One to Whole Foods Stores

Thursday, July 29th, 2021

Amazone One, Amazon Inc.’s biometric payment tech that lets buyers pay by waving their palms, is extending its presence in the market, and next in line is Seattle-based Whole Food Stores.

Having launched the tech in two of Seattle’s Amazon Go shops last Sep, the giant retailer now plans to roll out the solution at the Whole Foods Stores neighboring its head office, and later, to seven other stores within Seattle in the months to come. 

Amazon acquired Whole Foods back in 2017 for $13.7 billion, a chain store that now boasts a presence in over 400 locations.

Amazon One is a biometric payment solution that lets a shopper pay for goods by scanning their palm. Once a buyer inserts their credit card into Amazon One’s payment booth, they can hover their palm over the tool for scanning. 

Each payment is secure because the buyer’s palm print is connected to their plastic card. Amazon’s biometric terminal leverages computer-vision tech that focuses on unique identifiers to generate a palm signature. Users can provide a copy of one or both palms.

During checkout, a buyer hovers their palm over the terminal. The payable amount (of the goods added to cart) is then deducted from their card. Users can also connect their Amazon accounts to Amazon One and oversee everything, including their spending records online. 

What Does the future hold for Amazon One Pay by Palm technology?

Is Amazon’s move to expand the tech’s presence outside Amazon Go stores the first step to turning it into an everyday avenue for merchants? After all, the big-box retailer had announced it would do so during Amazon One’s rollout.

On the flip side, a cohort of critics still argues that retailers won’t buy into the idea of a payment solution from a dominant counterpart like Amazon. Nevertheless, Amazon One is ready to go, targeting the likes of Hudson, a colossal  1,000-shop chain store situated in airports and commuter stations. Hudson already uses Amazon Go tech in one of its stores at Dallas Love Field Airport. 

This is a positive sign that retailers may eventually accept Amazon One. Still, the platform will face setbacks like competition from other contact-free payment solutions. Plus, it is expensive to implement and may not favor merchants.