Austinites can now pay for their groceries with a wave of their palm at Whole Foods.
The Whole Foods store at Arbor Trails is the first location to use Amazon One, a palm recognition technology. The technology is expected to reach all seven Whole Foods locations in the coming weeks, including storefronts in The Domain, East Austin, Lamar, Gateway, Bee Cave and Cedar Park.
Austin is the first region outside the Seattle area where Whole Foods is offering Amazon One as a payment option.
Amazon officials said in a statement that signing up for the Amazon One service takes less than a minute. Customers can either enroll at a kiosk or the checkout by scanning their palm, typing in their phone number and inserting their credit or debit card.
Once a customer is enrolled, they simply need to hover their palm over the Amazon One device to pay for their groceries.
Thi Luu, director of product management for Amazon Physical Retail Technology, said in a statement that Amazon One is an optional payment method designed to make the shopping experience more convenient.
“By signing up for Amazon One with a credit or debit card, customers have the option to simply pay with their palm and get through check out faster,” Luu said. “We built Amazon One to offer a quick, reliable and secure way for people to identify themselves or authorize a transaction while moving seamlessly through their day.”
Amazon said palm images aren’t stored on the Amazon One device. Those images are encrypted and sent to a highly secure area in the cloud that was custom-built for Amazon One, according to the company.
