Amazon India is reportedly planning to launch its own digital wallet. The move comes after Flipkart recently launched its wallet, joining the likes of Paytm and Snapdeal.
After rivals Flipkart, Snapdeal and Paytm, Amazon India seems all geared up to launch its own digital wallet. It would give the e-commerce company a greater control over transactions when offering refunds and cashback to customers. The news comes right after Flipkart launched its own digital wallet called Flipkart Money, last week with an aim to make refunds and cashbacks easier.
Amazon India is “looking at multiple acquisitions (in online payments). It is a major focus area and the company is trying to figure out what it needs to do. Building own wallet helps it restrict access to customer data in the company’s ecosystem and monetize customer insights,” sources familiar with the development told ToI.
While the report states that Amazon India has already initiated acquisition talks with payments and digital wallet start-ups, the official launch is likely a quarter away. Last month, Amazon India made its first acquisition in India by buying Emvantage, a payments service provider based in Noida. It is important to point out that in 2014, Amazon had launched its digital wallet in the US, but six months later, it had to shut it down.
Sriraman Jagannathan, a former Citibanker who joined Amazon India last month to head the payment business, is also likely to head the digital wallet launch. Back in 2012, Jagannathan played a crucial role in launching and heading Bharti Airtel’s digital wallet, Airtel Money.
At present, Amazon India has prepaid gift cards allowing users to buy products on the site. According to Indian regulations, the maximum top up amount for these cards is set at Rs 10,000. Amazon India’s gift cards are powered by QwikCilver Solutions, a Bangalore-based startup in which Amazon bought minority stake in 2014.
It is important to point that China’s Alibaba Group-backed Paytm currently has more than 120 million users, making it the largest digital wallet in India. The company has also built a marketplace around its digital wallet, allowing consumers to buy everything, right from electronics to clothing, stationary and more. The e-commerce site also allows for mobile and utility bill payments, buying bus tickets and more.
As a part of most promotional offers, Paytm also offers cashbacks to customers, which gets added to digital wallet after successful delivery of the product, which helps the company to increase brand loyalty among its customers. In September last year, Snapdeal acquired FreeCharge and five months later launched its own digital wallet.
Source: bgr.in
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