A credit card right at your fingertips

Consider it the payment card you cannot lose, one that is enormously convenient, exceptionally secure and always close at hand. It’s your fingerprint.

And, as technology in the field of biometrics advances rapidly, it could become the payment mechanism of choice within a decade, according to University researchers, who report that a growing number of consumers are willing to use fingerprints to pay in restaurants.

Biometrics uses unique physical or behavioral characteristics such as fingerprints or irises to verify identity. Of late, the applicability of these technologies is expanding beyond security and into the world of commerce, in such areas as service augmentation and customization, according to UD researchers Shelly-Ann Lumsden and Srikanth Beldona. Lumsden is a graduate student in information management in the Department of Hotel,Restaurant and Institutional Management, where Beldona is an assistant professor of hospitality marketing.

The use of fingerprint technology requires a customer to first enroll in a company’s biometric computer system by scanning his or her fingerprint on a device that captures the image and stores it in a central database or computer. It can then be used to identify the customer during subsequent purchases.

To evaluate the applicability of such technology in the restaurant industry, the UD researchers conducted a study that examined user acceptance of fingerprint technology as a payment option in institutional meal settings and quick-service restaurants. Their findings indicate that as public awareness of biometrics has increased, fingerprint technology has acquired a reasonable level of acceptability as a potential payment mechanism.

The research was conducted from October 2006 through early January 2007, using a randomly selected sample of 256 University students, faculty and staff.

Lumsden says the major objectives were to find out the level of awareness of biometric technologies among consumers, primary motivations for likelihood of use as a payment mechanism and the major rationale behind consumers’ unwillingness to use it.

The study also compared prospective behaviors toward the use of biometrics in a university meal setting versus quick-service restaurants. The major findings included:

Findings also indicate that younger consumers are more inclined to use new and innovative technologies than their older counterparts, the researchers say.

The study suggests that public awareness of biometrics is shifting gear and that biometric technologies have the potential to play a significant role in service augmentation and efficiency. However, implementing these technologies should be done with a customer-centric mindset and strategic oversight, the researchers say.

“Although concerns remain to some extent, public attitudes certainly seem to have crossed the threshold of acceptability,” Beldona says, adding that while it may not be a mainstream technology yet, it has traveled far from its origins of being associated with law enforcement.

The researchers say they believe restaurants need to identify the objectives of a biometric payment mechanism before implementing one. For example, is the system being used for customer convenience, service augmentation or service efficiency?

“The underlying strength of biometrics is that it uses traits that are unique to each individual. It cannot be lost or stolen. It is always with you, and it cannot be forgotten,” Lumsden says. “Biometrics is who you are.”

The researchers say they were somewhat surprised by the level of receptivity they found among those surveyed. “We found that the positive association with the protection from identity theft and fraud outweighed concerns about consumer privacy,” Beldona says. “While we expected something along these lines, we did not think that this would be significant. The results did surprise us.”

Beyond security, Beldona says consumers also showed “significant support for convenience as a key driver for using fingerprint payment technology. “

He predicts that the payment mechanism could be used in a few major retail chains within a year or two, with the trend taking a little longer in the quick-service restaurant industry.

Lumsden says some retailers—including Thriftway Supermarkets in Seattle, Piggly Wiggly in South Carolina and Georgia, Lowe's Food Stores and Sterling convenience stores, located mostly in North Carolina—already are using biometrics and that Disney uses the technology to prevent visitors from sharing multi-day passes.

The use of biometrics “will eventually become ubiquitous within the next five to 10 years,” she says.

—Neil Thomas, AS ’76