Panasonic piloting facial recognition payments at a FamilyMart store in Japan

Panasonic, in partnership with Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart, has started a pilot project of a facial recognition-based unmanned payment service at a next-generation convenience store in Yokohama, a city south of Tokyo, Nippon.com reports. The store has cameras and censors installed in the ceiling to monitor customers and products.

Using the latest Panasonic developed biometric and image analysis tech customers can register their photo and credit card information and then check out items using unmanned registers. Other labor-saving technology that has been deployed include an automated mobile staff notification system for out of stock products. According to FamilyMart president Takashi Sawada, technologies that can be practically used will be introduced at other stores as soon as possible.

The pilot project is located near a Panasonic plant and run by the Japanese electronics company under a franchise contract with FamilyMart. The unmanned payment system is available for Panasonic workers who register facial data and credit card information in advance.

According to a global survey by Oracle, using facial recognition to ensure purchase security is a good idea according to 61 percent of consumers in emerging markets, but only 26 percent of those in developed markets.

Biometric industry stakeholders told Biometric Update last year that retailers need to offer incentives for consumer to accept retail deployments of facial recognition in developed markets.

Article Topics

biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Japan  |  Panasonic  |  retail biometrics