Samsung Pay adds loyalty card support in Australia, seeks to replace the physical wallet

MOBILE giant Samsung will launch new technology to convince you to ditch your wallet, beating Apple Pay and Android Pay to the punch.

Samsung will add a loyalty card feature to its Samsung Pay app in Australia, beating Apple and Google.

SAMSUNG will take another step towards eliminating wallets from our lives today as the company’s digital wallet becomes the first of its kind to add loyalty cards.

The South Korean technology giant revealed it would beat rivals Apple Pay and Android Pay to the punch in Australia after signing deals with 19 companies, from chemists to toy stores, to add their rewards cards to Samsung Pay.

WALLET DOOM: How Samsung intends to replace your wallet entirely

GOOGLE PAY: Google’s payment technology launches in Australia with more banking options

Users will also be able to add other loyalty cards to the app, from Coles FlyBuys to Woolworths Rewards, and leave their loyalty cards at home.

Samsung Australia adds loyalty cards to its Samsung Pay app today.

Samsung Electronics Australia mobile commerce head Brett Inman said the Samsung Pay addition was part of the company’s larger plan to get rid of the physical wallet.

“We’ve been working hard on our wallet replacement capability and the first value-added service we can launch is our loyalty program,” he said.

“Everyone is carrying around physical cards but they can now have a digital presence. It can be your gym membership card and so forth.”

Mr Inman said Samsung’s loyalty card partners included Chemmart, Lincraft, and Toys R Us, as well as food chains Oporto, Red Rooster, and Gellatissimo.

Other loyalty cards using barcodes could be added to the Samsung Pay app, he said, and the app would use a technology called Mobeam to ensure red laser scanners could reliably scan the phone.

Mr Inman declined to reveal how many Australians had used Android Pay since its June 15 launch, but said the company had been “blown away by the interest and the amount of registered users”.

In addition to supporting loyalty cards in its Australian app, Samsung has promised to expand its banking partnerships and add support for gift cards in future.

Samsung Pay currently supports payments from American Express and Citibank credit cards, while Apple Pay accepts ANZ and American Express credit cards, and Google’s Android Pay supports credit and debit cards from 43 Australian banks and credit unions.

Originally published as Samsung Pay adds loyalty card support in Australia, seeks to replace the physical wallet