Small businesses can now perform money transactions via
WhatsApp, thanks to new feature added to enable users send money without having
to leave the chat.
The feature, which has been launched in Brazil, will ease
money transaction process to appear like photo sharing.
“Today we are starting to launch payments for people using
WhatsApp. We are making sending and receiving money as easy as sharing photos.
We are also enabling small businesses to make sales right within WhatsApp,” Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook account.
Zuckerberg added that, “To do this, we’re building on
Facebook Pay, which provides a secure and consistent way to make payments
across our apps. I want to thank all of our partners for making this possible.”
The company will be working with local banks as well as the
leading payments processor to enable the cash transfer feature.
WhatsApp tested the payment system in India beginning in
2018, which enables customers to send payments for products in the catalog
store.
“Making payments simple can help bring more businesses into
the digital economy, opening up new opportunities for growth,” reads a
statement from Whatsapp.
The statement continued. “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.”
The company added that sending money or making a purchase on
WhatsApp is free for people, with businesses expected to pay a processing fee
to receive customer payments, similar to what they may already pay when
accepting a credit card transaction.
