SnapPay launches facial recognition retail payment platform in North America

Oct 17, 2019, 10:22 am EDT | Chris Burt

Biometric facial recognition payment technology is now available to North American merchants from payment solutions provider SnapPay for use in retail settings, the company has announced.

SnapPay will demonstrate the new capability of its payment platform which allows consumers to make a digital payment with a biometric snapshot during the checkout process, at the upcoming Retail West Show, presented in Vancouver by the Retail Council of Canada, and the Grocery Innovations Canada (GIC) show in Toronto. Facial recognition minimizes checkout time for consumers, enhances the value proposition of self-checkout lanes, and helps merchants stay at the cutting edge of payment technology, the company says. It allows consumers to make payments without a wallet, cash, a payment card, or even a mobile phone, and can also be tied into loyalty programs.

“Facial recognition technology is an increasingly popular method of payment among global consumers,” said Spencer Xu, CEO and founder of SnapPay. “By enabling consumers to pay with their ‘face’ North American merchants, particularly those with self-service kiosks, are providing an unprecedented level of convenience and speed in the checkout process, to a lucrative customer segment that increasingly demands it.”

The company cites a Juniper Research forecast that mobile biometrics will grow by 2,500 percent to authenticate $2 trillion in transactions in-store or through the mobile channel by 2023, and a Mordor Intelligence projection that the facial recognition market will double between 2018 and 2024 to $9 billion.

“Retailers in Canada are eager to explore technologies that will help improve the retail experience for their customers. SnapPay is a very interesting new player offering new solutions in the Canadian payments ecosystem. We’re looking forward to being first to see this new technology in use at Retail West,” said Retail Council of Canada Senior Director of Sponsorship Mary Markou.