SUMMARY
The New Feature Will Address The Problem Of Leftover Change For Amazon Customers While Paying Cash For Their Orders
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Amazon India will now allow customers to load cash into their Amazon Pay balance accounts right at their doorstep through its new load cash at doorstep feature. The new feature will basically address the problem of leftover change for customers while paying cash for their cash on delivery orders.
Customers can now ask the delivery associate to add the leftover change or provide additional amount up to $157(INR10K) to be added to their Amazon Pay balance. The customer will be able to confirm the amount getting loaded from the agent’s phone. Once the transfer is done, an SMS will be sent on the customer’s phone along with an email confirmation. The Amazon Pay cash load service will be available across all pin codes where Amazon’s logistics services deliver.
Mahendra Nerurkar, Director of Amazon Pay added, “With Amazon Pay cash load, customers across India can now easily load cash at their doorstep once and pay digitally henceforth. 1 in every 3 of our cash paying customer has already begun using the service and getting its benefits.”
This feature is in addition to the existing facility of adding money to their accounts using their bank accounts and credit/debit cards.
A Quick Look At Amazon Pay In India
Amazon had applied for a semi-closed wallet license with the RBI in March 2016, which it received a year later in April 2017. The company launched Amazon Pay Balance in December 2016, a payment option similar to how mobile wallets work but limited to Amazon-based transactions.
A month later, in May 2017, the digital wallet platform reportedly received $10.45 Mn (INR 67 Cr) from Amazon Capital Holdings and Amazon.com Inc. Ltd, Mauritius. In July 2017, the ecommerce giant fuelled an additional $20 Mn (INR 130 Cr) into digital payments entity, Amazon Pay India, as per regulatory filings. Come October, it reportedly pumped another $40 Mn (INR 260 Cr) into its digital payments arm, aimed at tackling competition from rivals Paytm and Flipkart-owned PhonePe.
As per an Amazon India spokesperson, Amazon Pay balance (stored value account/wallet) grew YoY by 409% in 2017. More so, the Amazon Pay wallet now accounts for 48% of all digital transactions on the platform.
No wonder with the launch of “load cash at doorstep” feature, Amazon India is looking to potentially convert some of its cash-paying customers to pay digitally, thus further driving the adoption of Amazon Pay as a payment mode among its customers.
As a per a report by Google and Boston Consulting Group, the digital payments industry in India is projected to reach $500 Bn by 2020, contributing 15% to India’s GDP. 2017 also ended on a high note for the Indian digital payments industry, with digital transactions reaching a new peak of 1.06 Bn in December. The latest feature from Amazon India just comes at the right time to give Amazon Pay the push it needs to get ahead of the competition.
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