Facebook Launches WhatsApp Digital Payment Service that allows user to send money to one another for free or make purchases from small businesses.
WhatsApp has launched its digital payments service in Brazil as the messaging app capitalises on its popularity in emerging markets.
This initiative starts as the parent company, Facebook pushes ahead with plans to bring more e-commerce to its platforms.
WhatsApp pay, the digital payment service from Facebook allows users to send money to pals for free or make purchases from small business via the internet.
Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer outlined his plans to offer the service in India, Indonesia and Mexico earlier January.
On WhatsApp blog, there was a highlight that the launch was part of a wider digital payment strategy across all of Facebook’s platforms. Check this below:
“Because payments on WhatsApp are enabled by Facebook Pay, in the future we want to make it possible for people and businesses to use the same card information across Facebook’s family of apps.”
While person-to-person payments will be free small businesses will have to pay a “processing fee to receive customer payments,” the blog stated.
Currently, WhatsApp has over 120M users in Brazil, making the country its second-largest market after India.
The company has already been trialling the payment service in India, where it has 400M users.
However, the firm’s efforts to launch WhatsApp Pay in India have been held up for two years by regulators.
In April, Facebook made an announcement that it has bought a 10% stake in Indian telecoms group Reliance Jio for $5.7bn (£4.5bn
That deal gives Facebook a powerful ally in the Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, who is Reliance Jio’s chairman.
The two companies plan to focus on a partnership with Jio’s newly-launched e-commerce platform JioMart.
Last month Facebook invested an undisclosed amount in Indonesia-based ride-hailing app Gojek.
The firms will use the tie-up to expand Gojek’s digital payments service GoPay.
In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for about $20bn. In February the messaging service said it had more than 2 billion users around the world. Now, Facebook Launches WhatsApp Digital Payment Service.
Also: How To Save A Message On WhatsApp Without Taking A Screenshot
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