Amazon Pay Goes ‘Offline’: To Introduce Offline ‘Scan And Pay’ Service In Neighbourhood Stores In Expansion Bid

E-commerce giant Amazon’s online payments service, Amazon Pay, is now looking to introduce an offline ‘scan and pay’ service across neighbourhood stores in India, reports Mint. The service has already been rolled out at department store chain Shoppers Stop, in which Amazon has a five per cent stake.

The plan has been confirmed by Amazon. “We have begun introducing Amazon smile code, a new way for our customers to shop and pay at physical stores like Shoppers Stop, among others," stated a spokesperson for the company.

“Customers will soon find Amazon smile codes in neighbourhood retail stores, where they can scan and pay for their purchases seamlessly,” she added.

The offline payments space may be huge for Amazon because 90 per cent of total transactions in India take place through the said mode. Moreover, targeting customers through an offline payments platform is also a route to bring them online, thus creating user loyalty in the process as well.

The offline payments space is currently dominated by FinTech companies like Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay, whose QR-codes have become ubiquitous across stores.

As a late entrant to the space, Amazon Pay will have a challenging task ahead in gaining market share.