Customers of new Alipay “Future Pharmacy” pay with facial recognition

Alipay has launched its first “Future Pharmacy,” which allows customers to pay with facial biometrics, TechNode reports.

The new retail store is a cooperative venture with Zhangzhongjing Pharmacy, and is located in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Consumers can authenticate their identity with facial recognition on a mobile device, having activated the service by registering an Alipay phone number. Prescription drug payments can be made with the technology, and Alipay credit affiliate Zhima Credit backs the rental of health check devices without a deposit. Payment through state-backed medical insurance supported by Alipay is also accepted at Future Pharmacy.

Alibaba also has a health affiliate, AliHealth.

The Chinese ecommerce giant’s online payment subsidiary Ant Financial was recently reported to have selected 3D wide-angle recognition modules from Etron for an unmanned Alibaba store in Hangzhou, in one of a series of recent retail biometrics announcements.

Article Topics

Alipay  |  biometric payments  |  facial recognition  |  retail biometrics