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Amazon Rolls Out Palm Payments to Whole Foods Stores

Seven stores in the Seattle area will get Amazon One in the coming months.

April 21, 2021
(Photo: Amazon)

Amazon is continuing to expand the number of stores offering palm payments, which are billed as a convenient and safe way to check out during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The palm payment system is called Amazon One, and it initially rolled out in September 2020. Then in February, Amazon One was introduced at Amazon Go, Go Grocery, Amazon Books, and Amazon 4-star stores. Now Whole Foods stores are getting the contactless payment option.

The benefits of Amazon One during a pandemic are clear. Payment only requires a customer to present their palm over a reader for it to be recognized. There's no need to take a phone or wallet out of your pocket and nothing to touch. Rolling the system out at Whole Foods was inevitable; the only surprising thing is the speed at which Amazon is expanding the system.

"At Whole Foods Market, we’re always looking for new and innovative ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers," said Arun Rajan, SVP of technology and CTO at Whole Foods Market. "Working closely with Amazon, we’ve brought benefits like Prime member discounts, online grocery delivery and pickup, and free returns to our customers, and we’re excited to add Amazon One as a payment option beginning today.

"We’re starting with an initial store at Madison Broadway in Seattle and look forward to hearing what customers think as we expand this option to additional stores over time," Rajan said.

For now, Amazon plans to introduce Amazon One at seven Whole Foods stores in the Seattle area. As well as Madison Broadway, expect the palm readers to appear in stores at West Seattle, Interbay, Westlake, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Roosevelt Square, and Redmond in the coming months.

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About Matthew Humphries

Senior Editor

I started working at PCMag in November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.

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