Tokyo 7-Eleven Lets You Pay With Your FacePaying for items could be as easy as looking at a camera every time you shop.
This story originally appeared onPCMag
In one way or another, the job of the cashier looks doomed to disappear. Amazon is already pushing for cashierless experiences through itsGo stores, and now convenience store chain 7-Eleven is embracing facial recognition to make paying as easy as looking into a camera.
AsThe Mainichireports, 7-Eleven has opened up a trial store in Tokyo's Minato Ward which is home to the NEC Group. Rather than requiring cashiers, cash, credit cards, or even contactless智能手机支付,这7 - 11只是需要你的脸for payment. The store is open to the 6,000 or so NEC employees based narby and requires each have their face scanned and stored to enable the system to work.
Related:Richard Branson Thinks the 9-5 Workday Grind Will Disappear
Once registered on the system, a shopper can approach a self-checkout area where their items are scanned. But when it comes time to pay, they are asked to look into a camera while the system searches for a match. Once found, the total is automatically deducted from that person's NEC salary.
The collaboration between 7-Eleven and NEC to launch this new store makes sense seeing as NEC developed the facial recognition technology that makes it possible. 7-Eleven is quite experienced at using facial recognition technology. All 11,000 of 7-Eleven's stores in Thailandalready use itto monitor store traffic, product stock, customer emotion, and to help suggest the most appropriate products to customers.
If the trial proves successful, 7-Eleven plans to roll out the option of paying with your face to small-scale outlets located inside office buildings. This is similar to what Amazon has planned after it recently launched an experimentalcompact version of its Go storein Seattle.
