The future is now, and cashless payments are in. But that doesn’t mean paying with your card at this unmanned Cheers outlet in Our Tampines Hub.
The new outlet, which opened on Saturday (12 Dec), will have no staff and you can simply walk out of the store with your items.
No, it’s not shop theft — because you’ll have already paid for them.
The AI system in the store records any item taken from the shelves and credits it to a virtual shopping cart.
You can only enter the unmanned Cheers store if you have the Cheers app installed, via facial recognition technology or a QR code scan.
While the new Cheers outlet in Our Tampines Hub isn’t the first unmanned store in Singapore, customers can only use their phones to make payments.
They can do this via installing the Cheers app and adding their Visa account, The Straits Times (ST) reports.
An AI system by Visa track items taken from the shelves and records it in a virtual shopping cart.
You can then walk out of the store while the system charges the items to your Visa card automatically.
Of course, to prevent abuse, there are cameras around and your face is recorded by the AI system.
ST reports that if you open a soft drink can and drink from it, then puts it back, you’ll be barred from entering the store again.
The store might be future-tech, but there are still some limitations currently.
Items like cigarettes and alcohol aren’t sold.
Also, only Visa payment is allowed at the moment, and users of other credit cards and DBS PayLah! will have to wait before they can patronise the store.
Regardless, the new store is a step forward for our Smart Nation.
And there’ll be a staff member around as a guide for the next 3 months, ST reports.
They’ll be there mainly to help people who may be confused at the idea of picking up an item and leaving without paying at a counter.
You should see more unmanned 24-hour Cheers stores popping up around your neighbourhood soon.
Hopefully, with more payment options.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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