WhatsApp continues to expand the territories that can already make payments from their messaging app chat. Customers of this Meta service can now link their payment details to be able to make transactions.
Following India and Brazil, WhatsApp is rolling out the feature to pay businesses within a chat in Singapore, partnering with Stripe to roll out the feature in the region.
pay with whatsapp
WhatsApp has built this payment feature using Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout solutions, making in-app payments available both online and offline. Customers can pay companies with credit cards, debit cards or Singapore’s PayNow funds transfer system.
At the moment, it is a limited test, not only at the territorial level, but it is only available in some companies in the country, although in the future it will expand in both fields. Businesses can set up this feature through WhatsApp Business, where they can also get a Stripe account and link the two.
“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.
Expansion of the payment function continues
The WhatsApp payment service is not exactly new. It launched the unified payment interface in the country in 2020 and ended up expanding to 100 million users. WhatsApp also launched business payments in Brazil last month, after 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.