Amazon Alexa May Compete with PayPal on Peer-to-Peer Payments
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Amazon may be interested in using its Alexa virtual assistant to launch a peer-to-peer payment system.
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According to people familiar with the strategy that provided information to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told staff last year to make financial services a top priority.
This follows a pattern of rumors about other financial tie-ups that suggest Amazon is considering a checking-account style product with JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Of course, the rumor immediately caused PayPal’s stock price to dip along with Square, which operates peer-to-peer payment service Cash App (Cash.me)
eCommerce Impact
If the old saying, “where there is smoke, there is a fire” comes true, then it seems Amazon may roll out more financial services soon that will go beyond the bounds of Amazon’s eCommerce ecosystem.
Potentially this may mean Amazon will take existing services such as Amazon Pay, Amazon Cash, and Amazon Gift Cards and roll them up into one digital wallet.
For eCommerce merchants, this could bring another major player to the table that offers a digital wallet that must be considered as part of the checkout process.
If Amazon comes out with a more coherent financial products strategy, it will be disruptive to the industry. Interesting times may lay ahead!
Do you think Amazon getting more into financial services is good for your business? Head over to our Facebook Discussion Group or use the comments section below to voice your thoughts.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.