Amazon expands palm-based payment option to more than 60 stores

Amazon is rapidly increasing the availability of its Amazon One contactless payment method.

Initially introduced at two Seattle-area Amazon Go stores in September 2020, Amazon One is designed to let customers use their unique palm signature to pay or present a loyalty card at a store. Now, Amazon One is available at more than 60 locations at select Amazon Go, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star, Amazon Fresh, and Amazon Pop Up stores.

The omnichannel giant has rolled out the service in several regions, including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington state, and Washington D.C. At Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores, shoppers will continue having the option to enter the store using the Amazon app, or can elect to use their palm at stores with Amazon One instead.

To sign up for Amazon One, first customers insert their credit card in an in-store Amazon One device or kiosk. Next, they hover their palm over the device and enter their mobile phone number to complete sign-up. Since no two palms are exactly alike, customers can register both palms.

A process of proprietary imaging and computer vision algorithms capture and encrypt the customer’s palm image, including tiny, distinct features on and below the surface, many that are indiscernible to the human eye or a standard camera. 

In seconds, a process of proprietary imaging and computer vision algorithms capture and encrypt a customer’s palm image. Amazon One uses the information embedded in a customer’s palm to create a unique palm signature that it can read each and every time the customer uses it.

A customer’s Amazon One ID is created when they sign up at an Amazon One device, and it contains their palm signatures, payment information, and contact information. To view Amazon One information online, including personal transaction history, customers can click the link in the welcome message they received when they first created their Amazon One ID and sign in with their Amazon account.

Amazon One is protected by multiple security controls and palm images are never stored on the device, but are encrypted and sent to a secure area Amazon custom-built in the cloud where it creates palm signatures. Customers can request to delete data associated with Amazon One through the device itself or via the Amazon One online customer portal.

In addition to expanding the availability of Amazon One internally, the company also recently partnered with digital ticketing agency AXS to deploy Amazon One at standalone ticketing pedestals at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre concert venue located in the metro Denver area.

This means, upon enrolling their AXS Mobile ID with Amazon One, consumers will now have the option to scan their palm to enter concerts and events, without having to show a physical or mobile ticket or ID. Amazon expects it to be added to more AXS ticketed venues in the future.

Amazon One is the second leading-edge digital payment/verification technology Amazon has licensed to third-party partners. In March 2020, the company began making the technology supporting its Amazon Go checkout-free store format available to other retailers. The “Just Walk Out” technology platform combines computer vision, sensor fusion, and machine-learning algorithms.