Amazon is encouraging shoppers to do something retailers hate on Black Friday (AMZN)

• Amazon is encouraging shoppers to use its app to find items in stores, but buy them online through its website this Black Friday.
• The company is offering $5 discounts on certain items through the app's features, including barcode scan and camera search.
• This offer directly encourages what is known as "showrooming" — customers going to stores just to see the item and then purchasing it online.

Amazon has a new plan to draw customers to its site this Black Friday.

In addition to its usual slew of discounts during Black Friday and the days immediately following and before, Amazon is offering a different kind of discount.

This year, it's offering a coupon for $5 off certain sale items just for using certain features on the Amazon app. Customers need only fire up the camera search or AR View features to nab the discount.

Read more: Thanksgiving is killing Black Friday by replacing it

To use camera search, customers have two options: either search by taking a picture of an item to search it on Amazon, or just take a picture of the barcode to look it up on the website. Search results will be instantly available, and if Amazon sells it, customers can choose to purchase instantly.

The discount tied to camera search is especially notable because it seems to explicitly encourage something many physical retailers fear: showrooming, or when customers come into a store to check out an item and then leave to purchase it online.

Amazon's $5 discount, plus a potentially cheaper Black Friday price than the one the store is offering, could be just enough to tip the decision to purchase into Amazon's favor, especially when adding in the fact that Amazon has removed its free shipping minimum for all holiday purchases.

Amazon is also offering other options to get the $5 discount, AR View. This uses the camera to render the item — usually a large one, like a piece of furniture — and see what it would actually look like in a shopper's physical space.

Amazon has been offering Black Friday deals since November 16. On Saturday, its Cyber Monday deals will begin and last through the week.

More on Black Friday:

• Shoppers using smartphones under the dinner table have made Thanksgiving one of the biggest days for online shopping
• Thanksgiving has suddenly become one of America's favorite days to shop online
• Walmart is trying desperately to contain the Black Friday chaos by creating what customers are calling a 'maze' — but photos reveal a wild shopping fiasco
• Black Friday deals sold out at stores like Walmart and Target before Friday even began — and people are furious
• This could be the last truly cheap Black Friday, thanks to Trump's trade war

SEE ALSO: Thanksgiving is killing Black Friday by replacing it

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