Amazon is apparently being sued over allegations of biometric tracking in New York from its Go stores. The company is facing a proposed class action lawsuit that is accusing the company of failing to inform customers at its cashierless Go stores.

For those unaware, New York city passed a law in 2021 that required businesses to post signs of whether they are collecting customer’s biometric information. This includes the likes of facial scans and fingerprints. Amazon Go stores basically let’s shoppers choose whatever product hey want off of shelves and simply walk out. All one requires is to scan a code from the Amazon app with a connected credit card.

Thus, the e-commerce giant is now being sued by Alfredo Alberto Rodriguez Perez who is arguing that the Go stores are making great use of the customer’s biometric data “by canning [their palms] to identify them and by applying computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensor fusion that measure the shape and size of each customer’s body to identify customers, track where they move in the stores, and determine what they have purchased.”

The lawsuit document argues that the Go stores only put up signs regarding this biometric tracking process over a year after the lay was officially passed. Some Go stores also utilize biometric data via Amazon One. This basically uses palm based identity and initiates payment service. When signing up for this service, the company claims that it will not be collecting their biometrics. However, “Amazon Go stores do collect biometric identifier information on every single customer, including information on the size and shape of every customers body,” as per the complaint.

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With the world battling the coronavirus pandemic, various methods have been adopted across the globe to limit human contact in public spaces. Amazon One from the e-commerce giant is one such method that lets users pay with their palms in Amazon Go stores.

Amazon is bringing a new biometric device to its Go stores as a form of “contactless” payment system. To put it simply, it is a scanning device in which one would insert their credit cards, then proceed to hover their palms over the sensor area on top. This will associate the user’s biometric palm signature to the card. In other words, once your palm is setup linked with your credit card, one can simply make payments through their palms and not require a credit card again.

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Keep in mind, you are not supposed to press down on the device as is the case with fingerprint scanners or palm scanners that require physical contact with the surface area. Amazon One is aimed at helping reduce points of contact in areas where people frequent, like stores. Thus, the Go stores are taking steps to eliminate any steps that require one to touch an area that might commonly be used by others as well.

According to a TechCrunch report, the system might require people to get used to it at the start, and user education is key here. But the tech giant would likely have employees staff demonstrate the process to new customers at the entry point to its Go stores. This is another indication of how lives have drastically changed during this time of crisis and how technology is a blessing in this regard.

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Amazon has just unveiled the Dash Cart, its reinvention of the regular shopping cart. The company announced Dash Cart earlier today (14th July 2020), and is capable of scanning your items as you place them in the cart. This will help people skip the busy checkout lines.

The Dash Cart from the e-retailing giant is essentially a mobile version of Amazon Go. For those unaware, Amazon Go is a store with no checkout since it used hundreds of cameras on the ceiling that automatically checkout the items that the customers pick up. In other words, a similar experience with automatic scanning, bringing the store on wheels.

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According to Dilip Kumar, vice president of Amazon’s physical retail and technology, “Our primary motivation for building this was to be able to save customers time. The alternative solutions are standing in the express checkout lanes or fumbling through self-checkout stations.” The service will debut at Amazon’s Woodland Hills, California, grocery store.

This store was unveiled back in November 2019 and is a part of the company’s plans for creating a new supermarket chain in the region. These stores will offer both Dash Cart along with conventional checkout lanes. The new smart carts are Amazon’s take on recreating and replacing the old squeaky and unbalanced shopping carts and adding a techie upgrade to them.

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At the end of 2016, retail giant, Amazon, opened an unmanned convenience store that you could just walk into, pick up what you wanted and walk out. No cashiers, no queues. Payment was  charged from your Account later. Amazon said it is the future of shopping and called it Amazon Go.

So far, the Amazon Go store in Seattle is the only one in operation for now. However, in far away China, tech companies small and big are embracing the unmanned store concept.

BingoBox, a tech-startup based in Guandong has about a dozen scattered across China for a trial operation. The unmanned stores are open 24 hours a day and work pretty much like Amazon Go. The store in Shanghai is stocked with items supplied by Auchan, a French supermarket.

Entrance is allowed by facial recognition making sure that only customers are allowed in. This arrangement means users will require an account that has their picture before hand. There are a plethora of cameras and sensors that identify the items in your shopping basket.

The cameras scan your face again on your way out and then charge your WeChat wallet account as you walk out. BingoBox says the plan is to have 5000 stores across China in about a year.

Alibaba is one of the big names giving the unmanned store concept a shot. Last month it announced its TaoCafe unmanned shop. TaoCafe works the same way as above and can even identify if you have put the shopped items into your bag already.

It also launched a new Grocery chain called Hema (pronounced Homer) which has 13 stores in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

Hema is said to be a mix of an offline and online retail experience. You sign up for a Hema membership via your AliPay or Taobao account and you can decide to shop, dine and order groceries with your phone. Payments are made via Alipay.

You can also walk into the store for a physical experience. The items on sale have barcodes that you scan with the app to reveal their prices and product information. Doing that will bring up suggestions of similar items. So you may be lucky to find the same product under a different brand for a lesser price.

Hema also has a live seafood section which seems to be its biggest attraction. You handpick what you want and can even have it prepared for you there. You can watch a video of the Hema store experience here.

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China may have gotten ahead of other countries, that doesn’t mean they are not facing challenges. BingoBox had to pause operations twice in one of its stores in Shanghai to fix the service as customers complained of glitches.

An analyst at Forrester Research, Wang Xiaofeng says that customer experience is key for the success of this new business model i.e. unmanned stores. To achieve that more data about customers’ preferences will be needed.

(Source)

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