Dive Brief:
- Convenience retailer Energy Mart is testing Amazon One biometric identification across its seven-store footprint, according to a LinkedIn post from Amazon last week.
- Amazon One allows a customer’s palm to serve as identification, associating it with an account to perform tasks like paying for items or allowing admittance to a store or other location.
- After testing the technology in places like sports arenas and its own brick-and-mortar retail locations, this is the second convenience store chain Amazon has rolled out its palm-scanning technology to, after Enerbase debuted the program in late April.
Dive Insight:
As more companies boost customer convenience by adding self-checkout or allowing mobile pay, Amazon One takes it further by allowing customers to buy their items without taking out a wallet or phone.
Users can complete most of their sign-up ahead of time using their Amazon account, then finish up in-store.
Amazon unveiled One in September 2020, and the technology can mostly be found in Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Amazon’s campus cafes and select Whole Foods locations. Airport retail company Hudson Group began using the program in June 2022.
Some locations combine Amazon One and Amazon’s Just Walk Out frictionless checkout system to allow people to scan their palm at the entrance, then pick up what they want and leave.
Energy Mart operates seven c-stores in Hendersonville, Brevard, Flat Rock, Arden and Black Mountain, North Carolina. All sites are open 24 hours a day.
