Amazon One and Beyond

Last September 2020, Amazon introduced Amazon One. New biometric technology allows shoppers at Amazon Go stores to pay for their purchases by scanning the palm of their hands. It was a breakthrough that everyone is practically giving a hand to experience. 

Amazon maintains its position as the No. 1 online retailer in North America, with its online sales representing nearly 31.4% of the United States e-commerce sales growth in 2020. Amazon also takes a massive cut by selling payments services and other technologies to external shopping sites. That is a large piece of the online sales growth, something we are all too familiar with when it comes to Amazon.  

This is why it is no longer surprising to see the e-commerce giant grab a piece of the brick-and-mortar shopping market, and Amazon wants all its customers to lend a hand practically. 

What is Amazon One?

Image courtesy of https://www.aboutamazon.com/

Amazon One is a new biometric technology that allows shoppers to enter a physical store and pay for the items inside the store by placing their palms over a scanning device. For the system to work, shoppers need to connect their palms to a stored credit card.

With Amazon One, everyday transactions are simplified. It offers a contactless service that allows your palm to pay and identify you. Signing up is free and you only have to sign up once, and then you can use it wherever Amazon One is available.

How Does it Work?

Image courtesy of https://www.aboutamazon.com/

Your Identity

Your hands are as unique as your fingerprint and your retina. Your palm is made up of tiny, distinct features on and below the surface that gives you a unique identity. Many of these unique features are indiscernible to the human eye or a standard camera that gives you a unique identity. 

The Amazon One Device 

The Amazon One device is designed exclusively to read your palm. Given the uniqueness of your palm, cloning it is almost impossible. Why? Because your palm consists of multiple layers of distinguishing features that make it the safe, easy, and most convenient choice for your Amazon One ID. Amazon One can recognize your palm in just a few seconds, and with no need to touch anything once you’ve enrolled,. It couldn’t be easier.

A Unique Palm Signature

Amazon One uses the information embedded in your palm to create a unique palm signature that it can read every time you use it. In a matter of seconds, the process of proprietary imaging and computer vision algorithms captures and encrypts your palm image, which creates a unique palm signature. 

No Need for an Amazon Account

According to Amazon, “Amazon One was designed to make the signup experience fast and lightweight, and you don’t need an Amazon account to sign up or start using Amazon One—just a mobile phone number and credit card.”

Amazon One Puts You in Control

I like how Amazon puts it; “Your Palm, Your Choice.” Amazon One puts you in control. Each transaction is intentional. It’s your decision. It’s your choice. You’ll need to intentionally scan your palm for it to work – you get to decide exactly when and where to be recognized. 

Since your palm is a unique part of you, like a fingerprint or your face, it doesn’t go anywhere and is almost impossible to lose. No one but you can use it. After signing up, you won’t have to touch anything to use it. You hover your hands on top of the Amazon One machine; it’s a genuinely contactless transaction. 

If ever you later decide not to use Amazon One, you can request to delete the data associated with it through the Amazon One device itself or via the online customer portal at https://one.amazon.com/one.amazon.com.

Amazon Expands Amazon One

As of February 2021, Amazon has rolled out Amazon One to additional Amazon stores in Seattle. This expansion made the system available across eight  Amazon physical retail stores, including Amazon Go convenience stores, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Books, and Amazon 4-star stores.

As previously discussed, Amazon One creates a unique palm print for each customer by scanning the customer’s palm and associates it with the customer’s credit card. Regardless of whether the customer has an existing Amazon account or not, they’ll be able to see their shopping history on the Amazon website.

Amazon says images of the palm print are encrypted and secured in the cloud, where customers’ palm signatures are created. However, some privacy experts are concerned that the new biometric scanning device, which sends images of peoples’ palms into the cloud, could arguably be a security risk.

“As with everything at Amazon, we take data security very seriously, and any sensitive data is treated in accordance with long-standing policies. We are confident that the cloud is highly secure,” Amazon spokeswoman Kerri Catallozzi said.

A Timely Innovation

Born in the middle of a global pandemic, Amazon One’s contactless transaction system is a timely innovation. It is not surprising to see rising customer interest in the new biometric system. It allows for a contactless way to associate the customer’s credit card with their future transactions. Once the customer re-enters the store, they will simply hold their hand above the reader to be scanned again and admitted into the store.

No Cash Transaction

What about customers who opt to pay in cash? Although innovative and efficient for those customers using credit cards or cash apps, Amazon One is not programmed to accept cash payments. This can pose a disadvantage to customers from a lower socioeconomic market. They may have to wait for some special assistance through this otherwise cashless, checkout-free store. 

Nevertheless, Amazon states that the system rollout will proceed to more locations in the near future.

Do You Need Help Building Your Amazon Seller Account?

Amazon is a very dynamic and robust platform with new and ever-developing technologies to reach more markets and offer more opportunities to its sellers. If you need help setting up your Amazon Sellers account or if you need help improving your sales performance, reach out to us at https://www.sellerslaunch.com/Book-a-Meeting-Page, and we will be more than happy to schedule a meeting with you. We hope to hear from you soon!