Seven Eleven Signature opened today the world’s very first unmanned convenience store where shoppers can pay with the swipe of their hand on the 31st floor of the Lotte World Tower in Jamsil of Seoul. The Hand Pay Service works with palm veins and card information registered in advance. The vein-scanning self-checkout terminal studies the size, color, and shape of each shopper’s veins, which are then translated into numeric figures allowing shoppers to make payments without the hassle of using a cell phone, credit card or cash, after registering their Lotte Card user information. As an infrared sensor of the terminal identifies intravenous hemoglobin elements and so this method towers over other methods in terms of accuracy.
The Hand Pay Service is armed with strong security. Lotte Card converts vein pattern information into data that cannot be decrypted, and distributes them to the Bio Information Distribution Management Center of the KFTC (Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute) and Lotte Card and stores them in the center and the company. The vein-scanning technology used in the checkout system is also used in the store’s smart tobacco vending machine with 48 types of cigarettes. The machine can identify and prohibit minors from buying cigarettes by reading their palms.
Other striking features of the newly opened Seven Eleven store include an unmanned checkout system equipped with a 360-degree laser scanner that reads the barcode of every item within range and calculates the total cost. Automatic refrigerators with sensors open their doors on their own when customers are nearby.
There are some 1,500 items available for purchase at the Lotte World Tower branch. Four CCTVs are installed in each corner of the store to monitor what goes on. To conserve energy, the CCTVs only operate when there are customers inside. They are capable of reporting emergencies such as fires. The cameras also collect data on how many visitors the store gets daily and how long they shop inside the store. The 7-Eleven Signature is currently on a beta run and can only be used by staff of Lotte affiliates until the end of July.

