SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free has introduced Alipay’s facial recognition technology in downtown Seoul.
Alipay Smile to Pay, which is already in use in more than 300 cities across China as well as Hong Kong International Airport, has now been introduced in the Sulwhasoo store at Lotte’s Myeong-dong flagship store and will be rolled out in other duty free shops in downtown Seoul, Lotte said.
The retailer said this is the first time the technology has been introduced in South Korea and that promotions are planned to celebrate the launch. Those that use the technology to pay before 19 November will receive ₩10,000 (US$8.54) of LDF Pay credit and there will also be an event offering a discount of CNY50 (US$7.08) to those paying more than CNY1,200 (US$169.89) through Alipay.
Smile to Pay works by selecting the option on Alipay on a mobile device and registering a picture of your face. Customers that already used the technology can automatically settle their payment within 10 seconds by standing in front of the face recognition camera.
Lotte Duty Free Director of Marketing Kim Jung-hyun said: “We [have] heightened the level [of] payment security and convenience for Chinese customers by introducing Smile to Pay, the face payment system of Alipay, China’s largest payment system. We will continue to try our best to provide the best service to our customers from Korea and all over the world.”
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