Fans visiting the Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field will get their first chance to use checkout-free concession technology there later this month when two stores powered by technology from Verizon and AiFi will be open for business.
Called the “On the Fly” express shops, the stores use overhead camera and AI technology from checkout-free startup AiFi and 5G services from Verizon to support their version of the popular method of concession purchases. According to the Eagles, one store is located on the Pepsi Plaza and another is located on the main concourse. Both will be open for the Eagles’ Monday Night Football home game on Christmas Day, Dec. 25.
If you’re not familiar with checkout-free stores, here’s a quick primer. Customers are allowed to enter gated stores by scanning a credit card or some other pre-authorized payment method (including biometric methods using faces or palms). After entering they simply take the items they want and then exit. Payment takes place online after they leave the store.
We will add more details and comments as we get more, but from the photos provided by the Eagles at least one of the stores is of a self-contained enclosure deployed on a plaza outside the stadium walls. AiFi has previously used such store designs at other venues, including Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. From the photos we can also see what looks like antennas on the top of the building, most likely for the Verizon 5G service that provides the store’s connectivity. Verizon, whose venture arm is an investor in AiFi, has rolled out numerous deployments of its Verizon Business Connected Venue technologies in stadiums this fall, including expanded 5G services and express entry solutions using facial authentication systems.
By our unofficial count, the two stores bring AiFi’s stadium-specific store count up to 20 stores. In the checkout-free market, it trails leader Zippin (71 stores) and Amazon (55 stores). Please see our recent story about checkout-free stores in stadiums for more information.
