Chinese e-Commerce Firm Opens ‘Unmanned’ Store Based on RFID, Biometrics Tech

Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com has opened a fully automated retail store in Indonesia, with biometric technology playing a key role.

As Tech in Asia reports, the store is “unmanned”. Its products are equipped with RFID tags, allowing them to be tracked when customers pick them up and head toward the exit. There, POS terminals use facial recognition to match customer to the goods they’re buying, and prompt them to pay with a credit card.

It’s a system that could deliver more convenience to customers, and it may allow JD to evade costs associated with human sales staff. Meanwhile, the company’s ability to track the flow of goods through the store could allow it to make strategic adjustments in inventory and product displays.

JD says the store is the first of its kind in Indonesia, and the company is indicating that it plans to push its retail technology even further, with JD Indonesia’s communications head telling Tech in Asia that there are plans to bring “other cashless payment alternatives” to the store. Given that JD is a rival of Alibaba, that could point to something like the biometric payment system the latter introduced in its Tao Cafe a year ago, which allowed customers to pay for products with a face scan.

Source: Tech in Asia

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August 17, 2018 – by Alex Perala