Amazon has taken another tentative step into the world of offline commerce through the launch of a mobile wallet app where customers can store loyalty and gift cards.
A beta version of the bare bones Amazon Wallet app has quietly made its way onto Google Play and Amazon Appstore.
Users can scan their gift, loyalty and membership cards to the app and then access then via barcode, QR code, text or image. At some merchants, customers can also check balances.
The app will come pre-installed on Amazon's new Fire handset and a new site has also been set up where users can edit and manage their cards as well as the payment options they have on file with the e-commerce giant.
In the longer run, Amazon is expected to let users store actual credit and debit cards in the wallet as it seeks to take on the likes of PayPal and Google, which recently added its own gift card features to its wallet.
Another feature that could make its way onto the Amazon app is person-to-person payments, which has long been touted as an area of interest.