Biometric payments introduced at Hong Kong airport duty free stores

Dragonfly POS devices featuring facial recognition capabilities have been launched to Duty Zero stores in Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) to enable Chinese tourists to pay with biometrics for a superior customer experience, TRBusiness reports.

The project is a partnership between CDF-Lagardère, which operates the liquor and tobacco shops at HKIA, Alibaba, and the Airport Authority of Hong Kong. The collaboration is the first in an overseas market between CDFG (China Duty Free Group) and Alibaba. Customers input their telephone number and face the camera of the Dragonfly device, which is the size of a regular tablet, to pay. The biometric capture and transaction process takes only a few seconds, according to the report.

Dragonfly biometric POS devices were deployed to an iconic retail street in Wenzhou in January.

The new technology is just one of several being deployed as part of the Airport Authority’s “smart airport” concept.

“To elevate our passenger’s airport experience, we have implemented different innovative technologies to develop HKIA into a smart airport,” says Airport Authority Hong Kong General Manager of Retail Experience Kitty Lo. “We have launched the ‘HKG My Flight’ app, smart luggage tag ‘MyTAG’ and e-security gates using biometric technology, to name a few.”

CDF-Lagardère said that facial recognition technology is safer and more reliable than fingerprints.

HKIA expanded its facial recognition system from e-security gates to boarding gates earlier this year.

Article Topics

Alipay  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Hong Kong  |  POS