Retail face biometrics devices roll out in Germany for age checks, China for payments

Biometrics are being deployed in the retail and hospitality industries for automated age estimation, payments and more. ITL has revealed a deployment in Germany, while Telpo kiosks have rolled out to thousands of convenience stores in China, and CyberLink has signed an agreement to work on phone-based retail and hospitality biometrics.

Liquor stores in Germany are using age verification technology from Innovative Technology (ITL) to guide staff ID checks, with positive feedback from both staff and customers, according to a company announcement.

Two franchise locations near Hamburg deployed ITL’s anonymous age estimation, which utilizes face biometrics to direct staff to check the IDs of younger-looking customers.

One store deployed ITL’s MyCheckr, and the other the MyCheckrMini, which does not include a video screen but otherwise provides the same functionality. The estimated age threshold for ID checks was set at 23 years old, as beer and wine can be purchased in Germany from age 16, while spirits and tobacco products can be purchased at 18.

“ITL’s age estimation products have been welcomed by both staff and customers,” franchisee Stephan Hermann comments. “They give our staff more confidence when asking for ID and have led to fewer confrontations. It simplifies our work and helps protect minors, and avoid fines as checks by authorities increase. With the one-time initial cost of MyCheckr and MyCheckrMini and the non-recurring fees, I have a cost-effective solution for age verification in my stores. Any store that sells age-restricted merchandise would benefit from this technology, and I highly recommend it. The cooperation with ITL during both the test phase and now is very good, the technical information was a great help.”

A market analysis from IHL Group on “Retail’s AI Revolution” notes that camera-based age verification can reduce staff interventions by up to 80 percent, and reduce how long those interactions take. Age verification is one of the main use cases for AI in retail self-service systems, according to the report.

A leading convenience store chain in China is using kiosks from Telpo with face biometrics capabilities for self-service ordering and checkouts.

Meiyijia Convenience Stores operates 32,000 retail locations across the country, and surpassed a competitor for top spot in the industry in China in 2023, according to a company blog post.

The K10 kiosks from Telpo are integrated with a point-of-sale system built in-house by Meiyijia to support multiple payment methods, including QR code scanning, as well as product scanning.

Telpo kiosks are also being used for self-serve biometric payments at McDonald’s stores in China.

Cyberlink partners up

CyberLink has formed a collaborative partnership with U.S.-based hospitality and retail point-of-sale technology maker Simpello to integrate its facial recognition.

CyberLink’s FaceMe Platform and SDK are being integrated with Simpello’s proprietary reusable identity and decentralized data technologies for privacy-preserving hotel and retail transactions, the companies have announced.

Simpello technology allows the customer’s phone to operate as an identifier, with a decentralized wallet architecture and transmissions through Bluetooth Low Energy and Ultra-Wide Band. A selfie and unique token stored on the customer’s phone can be used for hotel check-ins without presenting a confirmation in either paper or digital form. Contactless payments with face biometrics in retail environments are conducted in the same way.

“AI is already creating personalized interactions for customers,” says Dr. Jau Huang, chairman and CEO of CyberLink, “We’re excited that the collaboration between CyberLink and Simpello not only creates richer experiences, but also more secure experiences.”

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  CyberLink  |  face biometrics  |  Innovative Technology  |  POS  |  retail biometrics  |  Telpo