The three major convenience stores in South Korea (GS25, CU, and Seven Eleven) are collaborating with Viva Republica, which operates the fintech platform "Toss," to introduce the "Face Pay" service. Face Pay is a service that allows for easy payments using only facial recognition if customers register their face and payment method in the Toss application.
According to the convenience store industry on the 12th, the three convenience stores in South Korea plan to sequentially introduce the Toss Pay "barcode and QR payment" service starting next month, followed by the Face Pay service within the first half of the year. Face Pay operates through a dedicated terminal available at store counters that recognizes faces for payment, completing transactions with 99.99% accuracy in one second. If convenience store memberships in the Toss app are linked in advance, automatic point accumulation is also possible.
All data related to Face Pay is managed by Toss with encryption. In particular, the "liveness" technology that detects alterations in a face helps identify fake faces from photos or videos. A 24-hour transaction detection system is in operation to immediately identify and respond to fraudulent transactions.
GS25, operated by GS Retail, will start customer operations at about 30 major stores next month. Prior to the full-scale implementation of the service, there are plans to conduct a test period for employees starting from today at locations such as GS Gangnam and DX Lab.
CU, operated by BGF Retail, will also begin a preliminary test for employees starting from today at a store near the BGF headquarters located in Samseong-dong, Seoul. After enhancing the service, Face Pay is expected to be prioritized at 30 major stores in the Gangnam area next month. Seven Eleven will also select the first operating stores in the Seoul area and prioritize the placement of exclusive terminals for the Face Pay service.