Amazon continues its War on Friction by letting people pay with the palms of their hands
Amazon isbuildingin-store checkout terminals that can scan customers’ hands instead of their credit cards, according toThe Wall Street Journal.
The company is working with Visa (and in talks with Mastercard) to build out this system, which will require customers to link their hands with debit/credit cards once... and then allow them to simply wave their hands to make purchases thereafter.
You’ve gottahandit to Amazon…
They really are creative when it comes to convenience.
Jeff Bezos -- the King of Convenience, the major-domo of marginal dollars -- is constantly looking for ways to make it easier for his customers to spend money byreducing friction.
This palm program is a classic example: Hand scans eliminate the slight inconvenience of scanning a phone or (gasp) swiping a credit card -- and therefore make it marginally easier to spend cash.
Amazon’s entire empire is built on frictions found and then phased out:
Amazon isbuildingin-store checkout terminals that can scan customers’ hands instead of their credit cards, according toThe Wall Street Journal.
The company is working with Visa (and in talks with Mastercard) to build out this system, which will require customers to link their hands with debit/credit cards once... and then allow them to simply wave their hands to make purchases thereafter.
You’ve gottahandit to Amazon…
They really are creative when it comes to convenience.
Jeff Bezos -- the King of Convenience, the major-domo of marginal dollars -- is constantly looking for ways to make it easier for his customers to spend money byreducing friction.
This palm program is a classic example: Hand scans eliminate the slight inconvenience of scanning a phone or (gasp) swiping a credit card -- and therefore make it marginally easier to spend cash.
Amazon’s entire empire is built on frictions found and then phased out:
- Standing in line.Solution?Amazon Gostoresallowcustomers to shop without checking out.
- Entering your info online.Solution?Amazon 1-Clickorderingallowscustomers to order with a single click and avoid entering their info.
- Living in a sh*tty apartment.Solution?Amazon Huballowscustomers to pick up packages at lockers, andAmazon Keyallowscustomers to remotely let Amazon into their cars and houses to drop off packages.
- Forgetting to reorder.Solution?Amazon Dashallows customers toautomatically restocksupplies withSmart Shelvesorverbally commandDash Wandsor other Alexa-connected devices to reorder items (Amazon Dash buttons werediscontinued).
