Facial recognition payment technology faces barriers to uptake in Australia

Privacy and security are among the concerns Australians have with using facial recognition for payment, but they’re not the biggest, a survey has found.

QUT consumer behaviour expert Professor Gary Mortimer

Australian consumers are hesitant about using their face to pay in-store, with experts saying the potential for privacy and security breaches is a major deal-breaker.

A recent study from the Queensland University of Technology delved into what it would take for Australians to use facial recognition payment technology, a payment system that detects facial characteristics and stores them in retailer databases.

The technology has already been trialled in retailers across Asia, with 61 million users in China in 2018, which has been estimated to have increased to 760 million in 2022.

Globally, the FRPT market size was valued at $US4.62 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.9 per cent from 2023-30.

But Australian consumers were not sold on the idea, with many concerned about the potential privacy and security risks this could pose.

QUT retail expert Gary Mortimer, one of the study’s authors, said there was hesitation surrounding retailer trust and security concerns.

“Shoppers were less willing to embrace FRPT if they were not familiar with the retailer, didn’t consider the new technology useful or were satisfied with existing payment methods like tap and go or digital payments,” he said.

“Another issue that became apparent was just how private and secure such technology would be, especially in relation to facial image storage and data breaches.

“Interestingly, shoppers’ greatest concern was that FRPT might encourage them to overspend.

“We found shoppers were willing to trial and adopt FRPT as long as they had access to information, considered the technology would increase shopping convenience and, importantly, trusted the retailer offering it.”