So here is some fresh exciting news for all Whatsapp lovers ! Or well, in other words.. all smartphone users.
After Google’s thrust at the Payment space in India by launching its UPI based payment App Tez last month – now Whatsapp appears all set to launch Payment functionality in its messaging in India.
Messaging and payments are very closely linked in other geographies such as China where payments actually contributes a significant revenue generator.
According to reports by Factor Daily, Whatsapp has been developing a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service for India that it now plans to launch in December 2017. Apart from India, the service is expected to be launched as a feature release across the world.
Payments Integration into Whatsapp
How Whatsapp Payments Feature will work (according to Reports) ?
As per reports, the feature is likely to work just like sharing contact or location in the app and will be able to be used without the user leaving the chat interface. This feature will use the UPI or Unified Payment Interface for security and standardisation.
According to sources, this will probably work through the Attach symbol where a Rs. sign will be shown and can be pressed to provide payment related input. So this will be alongside the location , contact share buttons.
The user can either send or request money by clicking the rupee button. The sender will be able to input the amount and a secure PIN of-course.
The receiver is likely to get a notification, similar to the one we get when a contact is shared. And the receiver will be able to accept or reject the payment.
Actually this feature from Whatsapp is somewhat expected because on a visit to India in February, Brian Acton, the co-founder of Whatsapp admitted that the company was looking into how to incorporate payment functionality into their app.
Google has a small lead on them with their Tez App but considering the large user base of Whatsapp and the natural ease with which this feature integrates – it’s going to be advantage Whatsapp.
Another development which may follow shortly after this is predicted to be the ‘Whatsapp for Business’ . With Slack and Flock already being very very deep into the business messaging and communication space – the competition is likely to be tough. But advanced payments and billing functionality can definitely give ‘Whatsapp for Business’ an added competitive advantage.
Unofficial reports indicate that for implementing all this, Whatsapp is in advanced talks with ICICI, HDFC and SBI. No official word has been given , however.
Analysts and Industry stalwarts such as Mr. Jasminder Gulati, co-founder Nowfloats, aptly points out that the market is now ripe for a WeChat like play. He is referring of-course to the Chinese messaging app which integrated payments within the app as long back as 2013. It now has an almost unbreakable hold on multiple revenue streams including payments, messaging, advertising, commerce, ticketing etc , in the Chinese market.
Clearly, Whatsapp is now looking for avenues of growth and perhaps even monetisation while retaining it’s intuitive and simple user interface. Already, estimates by Consulting firm Zinnov show that nearly 2 million women sell products using WhatsApp and Facebook, totalling sales of $8-9 billion. This is projected to grow to $48-60 billion by 2022 according to them.
So, if you’re looking to build a chat or social messaging app like Whatsapp , or a payment / wallet App, do contact us and we will be happy to provide you a no obligation quote.
