After India and Brazil, WhatsApp is rolling out the ability to pay businesses within a chat in Singapore. Meta partnered with Stripe to roll out the feature in the region.
WhatsApp has built this payment feature using Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout solutions, making in-app payments available online and offline. Customers can pay companies with credit cards, debit cards or Singapore PayNow funds transfer system.
Meta said that the feature to accept payments via WhatsApp is only available to some businesses at this time. But it plans to expand availability to more merchants in the coming months. Businesses can set up this feature through WhatsApp Business, which will also guide them through getting a Stripe account.
“Most of the people I know in Singapore use WhatsApp to chat with each other. Now, they can also pay local businesses using the app. The speed and convenience of WhatsApp payments will help businesses expand their revenue streams with new channels and tap into a broader customer base,” said Sarita Singh, Regional Director and General Manager for Southeast Asia at Stripe, in a statement.
WhatsApp first launched its payment services in India based on the country Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Network in 2020 in test mode. In 2022, the National Payments Corporation of India allowed Meta expand the service to 100 million users. Last August, the company filed a comprehensive shopping experience with Reliance Jio in India, allowing customers to order groceries using the app. Last month, WhatsApp too launched commercial payments in Brazilafter allowing peer-to-peer payments for nearly three years.
Mark Zuckerberg is now leaning on the chat app’s 2 billion user base to launch payment services in different regions. Since WhatsApp has no subscription fees or ads, its commercial offers are the main method for Meta to make money from the app. Starting next month, WhatsApp will also switch from a notification-based pricing system to a conversation-based pricing structure for the use of its Business services.
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