After months of talking and testing, WhatsApp finally activated its in-app payments. Today, Facebook-owned messaging service announced that users in Brazil will be the first to be able to send and receive money using their messaging app, using Facebook Pay, the payment service owner. owns WhatsApp and Facebook launched last year.
WhatsApp said in its blog post that the payment service — currently free for consumers to use (meaning no commission fees) but businesses have to pay a 3.99% processing fee to receive payments — will work with a six-digit PIN or fingerprint to complete the transaction.
You use it by linking your WhatsApp account to your Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, with original local partners including Banco do Brasil, Nubank and Sicredi. Cielo, a payment processor, is also working with WhatsApp to complete transactions. “We have built an open model to welcome more partners in the future.”
This news comes somewhat surprisingly as WhatsApp has been testing the payments service among users in India for months (that trial used a different system, not Facebook Pay but UPI), as So many people think that the second largest internet market in the world will be the first area for this service.
But Facebook remains stuck in a regulatory maze in India that has prevented it from expanding its payments service beyond a small, limited launch, in another case the largest market application in terms of user. India has 400 million monthly active users, while Brazil’s second largest market has 120 million MAUs. And in fact, there’s something interesting there because of that scale: While there are a few other digital payment services: including Google Pay and Paytm, there are no obvious, large, and universal competitors. Variable payment offers in this in-country messaging app.
WhatsApp has been unofficially adopted for commercial use almost from the start: Small business owners have been using it to exchange messages with users around selling goods, what’s in stock, and more. But under the wings of Facebook — which acquired the company in 2014 for $ 19 billion — WhatsApp seriously begins its big mission to bring a more formal set of business services. That includes the launch of WhatsApp Business, which allows SMBs to post catalogs and stock links in the app; Facebook advertisers can also create links through their WhatsApp accounts.
But now with payments, WhatsApp, which has drawn in more than 2 billion users, has finally taken a more comprehensive commercial move, making it more than just a place to chat about a product, or even Releases send payment details, which are now actually transacted. And that gives WhatsApp and Facebook another boost in building a massive revenue stream by Mark, a non-app-transfer app that monetizes users through ads and data. accumulated around them — the main business model today after Facebook and Instagram, another big application in the sustainability of Facebook.
WhatsApp payments are starting to roll out to people across Brazil starting today and we look forward to bringing it to everyone as we push, ”the WhatsApp side said. “More than 10 million micro and small businesses are the pulse of the Brazilian community. It becomes second nature to send a zap copy to a business to receive questions. Now, in addition to viewing a in-store store, customers can also send payments for products. ”
The owner of the facebook service said: “Users in Brazil will be able to use the payment service on WhatsApp to make purchases from local businesses without leaving their chat.”
Although in theory, WhatsApp has been working on payments for many years; From what we understand, there has been a lot of delay partly due to how and where Facebook wants WhatsApp to do it. Now that it has launched with Facebook Pay, we seem to know how that fight landed.
As for the next areas to launch the service, it’s unclear if Facebook is willing to work with other types of payment methods other than Facebook Pay, or what kind of use-cases will pursue the service — though though the trial in India, using the UPI, implies that they will not be just a “one-on-one” approach.
These are still important questions, considering that payment cards and even bank accounts are not necessarily the norm in all markets, especially emerging ones; In addition to simple calling and texting, phones are now commonly used for other types of transactions such as remittances — where people transfer money to friends, family and businesses that are often far away. . And like