It’s Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here’s your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Amazon One, Amazon Just Walk Out tech, Blue Yonder, One Network Enterprises, Re-Up, Nala Robotics, Coach, and River Island.
1. It just got easier to sign up for the Amazon One palm recognition service for entry, identification, payments
An Amazon One app has gone live, enabling customers to sign up for the service by taking a photo of their palm.
Amazon One is a palm recognition service for entry, identification, and payment.
Until now, people had to visit a physical location to hover their palm over a device to sign up for the service.
Now, they can sign up from home, work, or on-the-go via the aforementioned app.
As a result, first time users will no longer require additional time to get onboard up during checkout.
They can create their online profile by logging into their Amazon account, taking a photo of their palm(s), and adding a payment method, all within the app.
Once they’ve signed up, customers can begin using Amazon One for payment, entry, age verification, and loyalty rewards by hovering their palm over a relevant device at any one of the 500+ Whole Foods Market stores in the US, several Amazon stores, and over 150 third-party locations in stadiums, airports, fitness centres, convenience stores etc.
Amazon says that the solution has been used more than eight million times, and over 80% of shoppers who use it at Amazon and Whole Foods Market stores choose to do so repeatedly.
2. Supply chain technology big hitter Blue Yonder thinks about the future with One Network Enterprises acquisition
Blue Yonder has announced the signing of an agreement to acquire One Network Enterprises for approximately $839 million.
The latter is known for its autonomous and resilience services and is a provider of intelligent control towers.
“Supply chains have become more complex, and as more and more companies reduce risk by diversifying sourcing of products globally, there is an increased demand for the sharing of information and resources across the whole value chain,” says Duncan Angove, CEO, Blue Yonder.
“This, along with increased disruptions and geopolitical risks, have put the pressure on organisations to build more resilient and robust supply chains.”
“Combined with One Network’s capabilities, Blue Yonder will establish itself as a leading supply chain solutions company that can offer a unified, end-to-end supply chain ecosystem that is resilient enough to withstand today’s challenges, and synthesised with innovative, future focused technologies.”