American bakery company Panera has added the Amazon One palm vein biometrics solution to its MyPanera loyalty program to facilitate placement of orders, payments as well as access to personalized rewards.
According to an announcement from Amazon, a deal has been reached for it to link its palm recognition service with Panera’s loyalty program to enable the latter’s customers and members identify themselves and pay for their orders and access rewards.
Panera is deploying the biometric loyalty linking program at two of its bakery-cafés in the St. Louis area and plans to make it available in more locations in the near future.
This deal makes Panera the first restaurant chain in the U.S. to deploy Amazon One’s new loyalty linking capability, allowing users to make the most of the MyPanera program while paying for their buys using their palm.
MyPanera loyalty program is said to have more than 52 million members across the United States.
To be able to enrol in Amazon One and link with the MyPanera program, guests are required to float their palm over an Amazon One device and a Panera attendant will help them through a personalized experience.
The integration, according to the partners, is significant as it will allow a frictionless experience for those who want to skip loyalty programs and just pay for their purchases. It will also save time for those who want to claim loyalty rewards.
“We are excited to deploy Amazon One in our restaurants because we want to deliver a frictionless and personalized loyalty experience for our guests,” said Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread and Panera Brands. “Amazon One is a great option for guests who want a quick and convenient way to sign up for our MyPanera loyalty program, redeem their rewards, and pay for their order with a simple hover of their palm over the Amazon One Device — all while enjoying a highly personalized in-store experience.”
The Amazon One loyalty linking capability feature also includes an online pre-enrolment option. First time customers with an Amazon account, a mobile number and credit or debit card, can create their Amazone One profile online. They can then complete the process at any store by scanning their palm and entering a code given them during pre-enrolment.
Those will an Amazon One account just have to link their MyPanera account to their Amazon One ID.
Amazon says with the introduction of the loyalty linking and online pre-enrolment capabilities, consumers, retailers, fast casual restaurants, and other businesses can soon appreciate the versatility and convenience of Amazon One, which is on an expansion trajectory.
Americans may soon see many more opportunities to use biometrics to secure cardless payments, with JPMorgan Chase & Co planning a test of face or palm biometrics at U.S. merchants.
Fortune reports that the technology may be piloted at some physical retailers, as well as a Formula 1 race taking place May in Miami. If successful, biometric payments will be rolled out to merchants using JPMorgan’s payment processing across the country.
Customers enroll their biometrics in-store, and then use them at checkout to complete a transaction, similar to a system launched last year by Mastercard at retailers in Brazil.
The bank cites a Goode Intelligence forecast that $5.8 trillion in transactions will be carried out annually with biometrics by 2026.
Article: Panera deploys Amazon One palm biometrics to facilitate payments, loyalty program