Pay By Palm Print: Whole Foods’ New Technologies Could Put Customers In Its Palms

Shoppers at Amazon’s (AMZN) Whole Foods Market stores gained a handy new way to pay for groceries with a new technology system that the retail giant has integrated.

At its Whole Foods Madison Broadway store in Seattle, a contactless palm-reading system has been added as a new payment option at check out.

The system, Amazon One, works by allowing customers to place their palms over a device that evaluates the differences on their palms. The device reader looks for distinct identifiers on the palm to create a unique palm signature for the customer.

All customer personal data is encrypted and stored in the cloud, including the biometric palm signature, Amazon said.

Amazon said it plans to add the Amazon One payment system at seven additional Whole Food locations in the Seattle area over the coming months. Locations to feature the palm-reading system include stores in West Seattle, Interbay, Westlake, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Roosevelt Square, and Redmond.

Shoppers can sign up at any Amazon One kiosk or device located in participating stores.

According to Amazon, enrollment takes less than a minute. Customers will just need to insert their credit cards and hover their palms over the kiosk’s device, where a palm signature will be taken using computer vision technology.

Once Whole Foods customers have enrolled in Amazon One, they can pay at a Whole Foods store equipped with the palm-paying platform, with their hand in about a second, Amazon said. Customers can also continue to pay with other forms of payment if desired.

“At Whole Foods Market, we’re always looking for new and innovative ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers,” Arun Rajan, senior vice president of technology and chief technology officer at Whole Foods Market, said in a statement.

“Working closely with Amazon, we’ve brought benefits like Prime member discounts, online grocery delivery and pickup, and free returns to our customers, and we’re excited to add Amazon One as a payment option beginning today,” he added.

Amazon One was first introduced by Amazon in September 2020 at several of its Amazon Go, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star, and Amazon Pop Up stores. Amazon purchased Whole Foods in 2017 for $13 billion.

Shares of Amazon were trading at $3,350.49 as of 11:21 a.m. ET, up $15.80, or 0.47%.