09/08/22; Daily News
Grocery shopping is getting easier for Southern California consumers.
Amazon announced Tuesday that more than 65 Whole Food Markets across the Golden State will soon offer Amazon One, a palm-recognition service that allows customers to pay by hovering their palm over an Amazon One device at checkout.
In the company’s first broad rollout following successful launches in Seattle, Austin and certain stores in Los Angeles and New York, the service became available Tuesday at three local Whole Foods locations:
- 23401 Civic Center Way, Malibu
- 1425 Montana Ave., Santa Monica
- 2201 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica
To use Amazon One, a customer must enroll their palm (or both palms) with the Amazon One service, which is then linked to their credit/debit card. That process takes less than a minute.
The technology works much like a fingerprint system. When a shopper holds their hand over the Amazon One device, it evaluates multiple aspects of their palm. No two are alike and Amazon’s vision technology selects the most distinct identifiers of each customer’s palm to create a “palm signature.”
Amazon plans to expand the service in the coming weeks to other Whole Foods Markets in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Santa Cruz. Specific locations have not been revealed by the company.
Other retail locations that already offer Amazon One service can be found at the Amazon Style store in Glendale and at Whole Foods Markets in Irvine, Sherman Oaks and Silver Lake.
Amazon One has also been integrated alongside the company’s “Just Walk Out” technology at several Amazon Fresh grocery stores, including an Encino store that opened last month.
Customers who opt for Just Walk Out shopping can enter the store by scanning the in-store QR code in their Amazon app, using Amazon One or by inserting a credit or debit card to open Just Walk Out gates.
Once inside, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to a virtual cart, and anything a customer puts back comes out of it. When they’re finished shopping they simply scan or insert their entry method again to exit the store.
The technology works with the help of hundreds of cameras, weight gauges and scanners that monitor what a customer removes from shelves and puts into their carts.
Customers, including non-Amazon members, can also use a traditional checkout lane, and those buying alcohol move through a separate, one-way aisle where they show an ID to an employee and exit through a gate.
Other Amazon Fresh stores can be found in North Hollywood, Woodland Hills, Whittier, Mission Viejo, La Verne, Murrieta, Irvine, La Habra and Long Beach, among other locations.
Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director for the retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said Amazon’s push to make the shopping experience quicker and easier has altered consumers’ buying habits.
“Forty-five to 46% of consumers are shopping less at conventional grocery stores,” he said. “And they’re typically buying more products because now they have more time.”
Amazon isn’t the only retailer looking to streamline the shopping process.
Walmart and Sam’s Club have a Scan & Go program that allows customers to scan products with their smartphones and pay with a credit card registered on the app. 7-Eleven has a similar Mobile Checkout program, and Aldi recently opened its first checkout-free grocery store in London.
Flickinger expects most retail outlets to implement similar technologies. “Probably within the next five years,” he said.
Subscribe to our free mailing list and always be the first to receive the latest news and updates.