Amazon Expands Palm Payment Service to Whole Foods in Austin, Texas

Amazon is bringing its Amazon One palm payment solution to Whole Foods Market outlets in Austin, Texas. The service will debut at the Arbor Trails Whole Foods location, though it will eventually make its way to all seven Whole Foods stores in the Austin area in the weeks ahead.

Once the rollout is complete, Austin will be the first city outside of Seattle to offer Amazon One service at every single one of its Whole Foods stores. The Amazon One platform debuted at Amazon Go stores in September of 2020, and made its way to Seattle-area Whole Foods in April of the following year. The service is also offered at Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores in California, Colorado, New York, and Washington, DC, though Austin represents the most ambitious Whole Foods deployment in the past few years.

To take advantage of the service, Amazon customers will first need to register their palm(s) using a scanner at the store. They will then be able to link a debit or a credit card to that palm print, which will in turn allow them to pay for their purchases with only a palm recognition scan the next time they pass through checkout. Participation is strictly optional, while the palm prints themselves are encrypted and stored in the cloud instead of on-device.

The Amazon One readers are fully touchless, so customers do not need to put their hands on the device to complete a palm recognition scan. However, Amazon is not yet ready to bring its complete “just walk out” solution to a full-size Whole Foods store. That solution uses cameras and sensors to track what people pull off the shelves, and allows them to leave the store with their purchases without ever stopping at a payment terminal.

Sources: Winsight Grocery Business and CNET

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April 21, 2022 – by Eric Weiss