In conjunction with Lotte Card and Lotte Data Communication, 7-Eleven has launched its first smart convenience store equipped with a BioPay system at Lotte World Tower on Tuesday.

BioPay is a payment method that allows consumers to make transactions by identifying themselves with a part of their body linked to a preassigned credit card. 

It is the first such store to be opened by 7-Eleven in the world, the company said. The HandPay system, in which individuals are recognized by their veins, was chosen over other types of BioPay -- such as iris or fingerprint recognition -- to maximize convenience, added the company.

Customers place their purchases on a conveyor belt at an unmanned counter, where the items are then scanned 360 degrees to locate their barcodes. The prices are then tallied and appear on a screen. The system will be further improved through an artificial intelligence system that can identify products without barcodes.

The store also has other high-tech features, including a refrigerator that automatically opens and shuts, electronic price tags, a smart CCTV system, and a Smart Safe Cigarette Vending Machine.

Jung Seung-in, president of Korea Seven, said, “7-Eleven Signature, as a premium smart convenience store with a cutting-edge IT system suitable for the fourth industrial revolution, will be remembered as an innovative icon in Korea’s distribution industry.”

Korea Seven is a joint venture by Lotte and 7-Eleven. The 7-Eleven Signature store will be open exclusively to employees of Lotte for the next one or two months as a pilot program before it opens to the public. The company also said that it would make efforts to extend the HandPay system to payment methods other than Lotte Card by the end of August.

While the company refused to reveal specific mid- and long-term plans, the technology used in the 7-Eleven Signature store is likely to be expanded to other subsidiaries of Lotte in the future.

By Yim Ji-min (jiminy@heraldcorp.com)