Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) is trialling a contactless biometric immigration clearance system that enables travellers arriving in the country from Malaysia by car to scan their passport and verify their identity with a face and iris scan without needing to leave their vehicle... More
Consumers in Newark, New Jersey, in the US can now purchase “contactless burgers” that have been cooked by a robot from an automated kiosk in the Newport Centre shopping mall... More
Consumers will be able to use their mobile device to order a takeout pizza that is both made and delivered to their door entirely by robots using a fully automated, contactless system being developed in California... More
Consumers in Calgary, Canada, can now order and pay for ready-made meals on their smartphone and then collect their food from an automated contactless kiosk by presenting a barcode shown on their mobile device... More
Customers of US coffee chain Dunkin’ in California will soon be able to walk into a store, pick up a coffee and pay for it from their mobile phone without having to pre-order, interact with staff, wait to pay at a checkout or scan goods at a kiosk... More
Canada’s DCBank has partnered with technology supplier XTM to provide shopping malls and entertainment venues with ‘reverse ATMs’ that let customers instantly convert their physical money into a prepaid Mastercard they can then use to make payments at cashless points of sale... More
McDonald’s to add self-order kiosks to 1,000 stores each quarter — CNBC — “McDonald’s will upgrade 1,000 stores with kiosk and mobile order technology every quarter for the next eight to nine quarters. International markets like Canada, Australia and the UK are already fully integrated with kiosk service and mobile ordering. McDonald’s has also been exploring delivery in the US in an attempt to meet customer demand and changes in how consumers want to get their food.”
Shake Shack first quarter 2018 earnings call — Shake Shack — “Some of the things we’ve clearly seen is that our guests do often want to pay with cash. In the first rollout at Astor Place, we did not accept cash at all. And there are people who have told us very clearly, ‘We want to pay with cash’. So in this next phase, we’re going to go ahead and have cashiers as well as kiosks.”
Cali Group demonstrates face based loyalty program pilot in its restaurant operating division — Cali Group — “The kiosks use NEC’s NeoFace facial recognition software to identify registered customers and pull up their loyalty accounts and order preferences… Also in 2018, the platform will be used to allow customers to pay using their faces.”
Samsung teams up with Octopus to launch exclusively the first “Smart Octopus” in Samsung Pay — Octopus Holdings — “Smart Octopus in Samsung Pay will enable NFC payment at all Octopus acceptance points, covering public transport as well as over 21,000 retail outlets, online shopping, recreational facilities, vending machines, self-service kiosks; plus the use of parking and access control facilities at residential or commercial premises.”
Shake Shack to open cashless, kiosk-only location in New York City — CNBC — “Located in Astor Place, this Shake Shack won’t have a cashier’s counter. Instead, guests will use digital kiosks or their mobile phones to place orders. Manning these kiosks will be “hospitality champs,” Shake Shack employees who specialize in making customers’ time in the restaurant as seamless and enjoyable as possible.”
Alibaba testing face recognition technology — AsiaOne — “An army of specially equipped kiosks have been installed across five locations at Shanghai’s financial district of Lujiazui, with cameras scanning people’s faces to verify their identities… Users need to subscribe to a service embedded in the Alipay digital wallet, which gives the app the green light to capture their personal information to confirm their identity”.
French department store chain Galeries Lafayette has added a digital showroom for leather goods at its La Rochelle and Cannes stores, allowing shoppers to place handbags that interest them on a dedicated table where NFC tags attached to the products are used to bring up information, options and checkout details... More
McDonald’s will launch its mobile order and pay service in 20,000 restaurants in “some of our largest markets including the US” by the end of 2017, with the fast food giant aiming to enhance its digital capabilities and the use of technology to “dramatically elevate the customer experience” and “unlock meaningful growth and increase guest counts”... More
Holidaymakers aboard Carnival Corporation cruise ships will soon be given an NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) enabled wearable device, designed by the man behind Disney’s MagicBand, that will let them access a range of next generation services including boarding without checking in, unlocking rooms, accessing personalised entertainment, ordering food and making payments. More
McDonald’s is planning to launch a mobile order and pay service in up to 25,000 restaurants worldwide by the end of 2018, starting in the US next year, the fast food giant has told NFC World... More
Customers of UK healthy eating chain Tossed will only be able to pay for their orders using a chip card, contactless card or an NFC mobile payment app such as Apple Pay at the two new food outlets the company is opening in London this week. More
The global vein recognition biometrics market in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.83% from 2014-2019, research firm Technavio predicts... More
Alipay is making it possible for Chinese tourists to purchase transport passes for Singapore, Thailand and Macau ahead of travel and then collect them by scanning a barcode on their mobile phones at booths and kiosks at their destination... More
Macy’s Inc, owner of the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department store chains, has unveiled plans to implement a range of new technologies designed to provide an omnichannel shopping service to its customers... More