NTT Data rolls out biometric facial authentication shopping at register-less stores

NTT Data Corporation has rolled out a test pilot for its biometric facial authentication retail payments and inventory-linked dynamic pricing at their Catch&Go register-less digital stores, the company announced.

Catch&Go stores were first introduced in September 2019 to provide customers with an innovative method of pre-registering their payment options and deliver a seamless shopping experience. Shoppers enter the store based on a QR code for authentication and then check out without having to pay at the register. Now that facial recognition has been added, users can shop around the store and make purchases without even taking their phones out.

The facial recognition entry feature allows shoppers to register their facial image using a smartphone and authenticate themselves on a tablet installed at the entry to the store. Shoppers can still use QR code authentication, but the new feature is an enhancement that delivers a frictionless shopping experience through facial recognition without other engagement, the company says.

The dynamic pricing connects electronic price cards on shelves with inventory details and regularly adjusts prices based on warehouse supply to reduce waste.

“For some time now, NTT Data has been looking into the issue of delivering innovative way of customer touchpoints, while also answering the social challenge, such as shrinking labor forces faced by Japan and other countries,” said Isao Arima, senior vice president of NTT Data in a statement. “That’s why we are excited to be introducing this new Catch&Go register-less service, which has great potential to better support our clients in providing a new customer experience as well as creating an enhanced employee experience.”

Register-less digital stores not only improve customer experience by no longer having to line up and wait at a register, but they also improve business operations’ sustainability and help staff focus resources on other tasks, according to the announcement. Coupons are automatically applied and the store can create a more personalized campaign based on the shoppers’ behavior flow and activities in the store.

By the end of 2022, NTT Data aims to implement the service at 1,000 retail stores.

A recent study from Wirecard suggests that more than two out of three consumers would use biometrics for in-store purchases.

Article Topics

access management  |  authentication  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  facial recognition  |  NTT Data  |  payments  |  retail biometrics