Unlike Amazon’s stores where shoppers can simply leave with bags of carts full of goods, the upgraded 7-Eleven stores still require shoppers to stop and individually scan their items before paying. What’s different is the lack of traditional LCD touchscreens which have been instead replaced by a system developed by Toshiba called Digi POS that creates the illusion of a touchscreen interface simply hanging in the air in front of a shopper, while those behind them in line don’t see anything at all.
Privacy isn’t the main advantage of the Digi POS. Through the use of hidden sensors, the system can detect the presence and movements of fingers, so a shopper can press buttons and interact with the virtual touchscreen without actually having to physically touch anything. So not only is there nothing to clean and sanitize afterward, but there’s also much less risk of the hardware being damaged or suffering from physical wear and tear over time.
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The holographic self-checkouts will be trialed at six different 7-Eleven stores in Tokyo starting tomorrow and will allow most in-store items to be purchased autonomously. Payments are handled either by touchless payment cards or by scanning the screen of a mobile device. Other products, such as alcohol, cigarettes, and even paying bills, are excluded from the new checkouts and will still require a physical cashier to complete purchases.