Amazon is recruiting a tech team that will be tasked with building “innovative payment products for customers in emerging markets” that will enable “customers to convert their cash into digital currency” to purchase “goods and/or services like Prime Video”, a job advertisement posted by the company reveals... More
Amazon is enabling customers at three more of its Amazon Go outlets in Seattle, USA, to use a contactless palm scanning device to gain access to the store and pay for their purchases with their palm print... More
Owners of LG smart TVs can now transfer content between their NFC smartphone and their TV by tapping their phone on the company’s new Magic Remote remote control device... More
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has opened an investigation into whether companies such as Apple are in breach of competition rules if they limit the access payments apps have to a smartphone’s NFC chip and restrict a user’s choice of contactless in-store payment method on that device... More
Senders of Evite digital greeting cards can now also send the recipient a gift card, via an integration with Blackhawk Network‘s eGift service... More
PARTNER NEWS: Antelop Solutions has launched a tokenized card management solution that makes it possible for banks to provide their customers with the ability to view, control, push, update and manage the card details that they have shared with all the different mobile wallet providers and ecommerce merchants they deal with — from within their mobile banking app... More
Customers shopping at two Amazon Go outlets in Seattle, USA, can now gain access to the convenience stores and pay for their purchases by simply placing their palm over a contactless palm scanning device installed at the entrance... More
Drivers can now use Alexa to pay for their fuel using just a voice command at any of more than 11,500 Exxon and Mobil stations across the US... More
Amazon has unveiled Dash Cart, a smart shopping trolley that automatically tracks the items shoppers place in their trolley as they shop — and then lets them simply exit the store when they have completed their shopping, with no need to visit a physical checkout... More
Airport hospitality group OTG is adopting Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, enabling passengers shopping at its CIBO Express Gourmet Markets at New York’s Newark and LaGuardia airports to more quickly make last-minute purchases... More
Amazon is making the cashierless store technology it uses in its Amazon Go stores available to other retailers under a new Just Walk Out brand name... More
Amazon is using the cashierless store technology that powers its Amazon Go convenience stores to provide a checkout-free experience in a full-size grocery store for the first time... More
Cash, plastic or hand? Amazon envisions paying with a wave — The Wall Street Journal — “The tech giant is creating checkout terminals that could be placed in bricks-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their card information to their hands, according to people familiar with the matter. They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone.”
Drivers pulling into any of more than 11,500 Exxon and Mobil gas stations across the US will be able to pay for their fuel from their vehicles from later this year, by simply saying “Alexa, pay for gas”... More
‘Alexa, send flowers’: Order a bouquet in time for Christmas using only your voice — Interflora — “Global flower delivery company Interflora has become the first UK retail brand to launch a complete end-to-end ‘V-commerce’ service, with just one simple voice-based transaction making it possible to send flowers via Alexa and check out with Amazon Pay, all without lifting a finger.”
Amazon is in talks to bring its cashierless Go technology to airports and movie theaters — CNBC — “Amazon is in talks to bring the cashierless technology that runs its Go stores to other retailers like airport shops and movie theatres, according to people familiar with the matter… The idea is to start installing the technology working for customers in the first quarter of 2020 and have hundreds of these stores working by the end of 2020, two of the people said. One person said Amazon hopes to have the upgrade process take just two weeks.”
A biometric payments system that uses the shape of a shopper’s hand to identify them at the point of sale (POS) is currently being tested by Amazon employees ahead of a planned pilot at “a handful” of Whole Foods supermarkets early next year, the New York Post reports... More
Amazon launches Transparency in Europe, India and Canada — Amazon — “Transparency is a product serialisation service that provides a unique code for every unit that is manufactured. Brands put these codes on its products and every time one of these products is ordered in Amazon’s stores, Amazon scans and verifies the code to ensure only authentic units reach customers. Additionally, customers can use a mobile app to scan the code and verify authenticity regardless of where they purchased their units. Brands can also use Transparency to communicate unique unit-level information, including manufacturing date, manufacturing place, or other enhanced product information (eg ingredients).”
PayByPhone is now available through Amazon Echo Auto — PayByPhone — “To use the PayByPhone skill for Alexa, users must enable the skill and connect their existing PayByPhone account through account linking. After this, users can simply say, ‘Alexa, ask PayByPhone to start parking’ to begin a new parking session at the user’s desired spot for their desired duration.”
Amazon Pay launches person to person (P2P) payments through UPI for Android customers — Amazon — “Customers can use this functionality to settle bills/expenses with friends, lend/return money to family, pay rents, pay for services like house-help, newspaper bills, milk subscription and more. Customers can also make payments from their bank account to local stores nearby or to [an] Amazon delivery associate at [the] doorstep by scanning UPI QR codes using the Amazon app.”