Amazon is to introduce payment by palm across its Whole Foods Market grocery business in the US.

Amazon One palm scanner

The technology is already used in 400 shops, including Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh stores

The technology will be launched in all of Whole Foods’ 500 stores by the end of the year, Amazon said.

Customers will be able to use Amazon One, Amazon’s palm recognition service, to “simply hover their palm over an Amazon One device to pay at checkout”.

Amazon said the service was “convenient, contactless and highly secure – your unique palm signature can’t be replicated”.

The technology, used for “identification, payment, loyalty membership and entry”, is already used at 400 US locations and is reaching “a critical milestone with more than 3 million uses”.

Amazon One is deployed in around 200 Whole Foods branches and other locations such as Amazon Fresh shops. The retailer said third-party businesses are also “increasingly offering Amazon One as an identification and payment option for their customers”.

Whole Foods chief technology officer Leandro Balbinot said: “We are always looking for new ways to delight our customers and improve the shopping experience.

”Since we’ve introduced Amazon One at Whole Foods Market stores over the past two years, we’ve seen that customers love the convenience it provides and we’re excited to bring Amazon One to all of our customers across the US.”