ATLANTA -- NCR is integrating a facial recognition-driven identification platform from London-based Yoti into its self-checkout product, NCR FastLane SelfServ. The company said it expects retailers in the United States and the U.K. to test the integrated product in the coming months.
An NCR spokesperson could not confirm which retailers are looking to adopt the solution and could not give a more specific timeline for the U.S. launch.
Customers can download the free Yoti app and verify their identity before shopping. Once they have done so, they simply scan a QR code at the checkout using the Yoti app, sharing their preverified age in seconds.
Anyone who inputs their face and identity into the mobile app must capture a photograph of a passport or driver’s license during the sign-up process and take a few selfies. Android users can also scan their passport biometric chip for additional security. Yoti has staff who make additional checks to confirm details shared on the back end. The company also encrypts and separately stores each piece of personal information, such as date of birth, first name and last name.
Retailers can also configure the self-checkout station’s built-in camera to decide if a customer is old enough to make an age-restricted purchase whether or not they have already made an account with Yoti. NCR and Yoti suggest most retailers set the age limit 10 years above the legal limit in this case.
“Removing the friction of the shopping experience is a primary goal of all our innovations,” said Dusty Lutz, vice president and general manager of the NCR Store Transformation Solutions Group. “Integrating the Yoti technology will help reduce the amount of interventions for retailers, and at the same time, help improve the customer experience of self-checkouts.”
Even Seattle-based Amazon’s new convenience stores, Amazon Go, do not use automated age verification. Amazon Go stores that carry beer and wine employ a person to stand in the alcohol section and physically check identification before customers can leave with an alcohol purchase.
“Waiting for age approval at self-checkouts is a source of frustration for many shoppers, who just want to get home as quickly as possible. Our integration with NCR delivers a frictionless and innovative way for customers to prove their age in seconds,” said Robin Tombs, CEO and co-founder of Yoti.
In addition to providing identification services at the checkout, Yoti was also recently tapped by the government of Scotland to allow Scottish residents to use Yoti’s platform instead of physical documents such as driver’s licenses or passports.
NCR Corp., based in Duluth, Ga., does business in 180 countries. It enables nearly 700 million transactions daily in the financial, retail, hospitality, travel, telecom and technology industries.
Founded in 2014, London-based Yoti aims to become the world’s identity platform. Its digital identity app has more than 2.5 million installations, and allows users to verify the identities of people they have met online or replace passwords with biometrics, in addition to its retail uses.
Photograph courtesy of NCR
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