Amazon Expands Payments with Global Partner Program
Amazon is stepping on the gas when it comes to expanding its payments business globally. The e-retail giant today announced the launch of the Amazon Payments Partner Program, a new global program it says will help e-commerce platform providers and developers extend the trust and familiarity of Amazon Payments to their merchant customers.
The Amazon Payments Partner Program includes solution pre-integration and exclusive benefits and services, such as knowledge-sharing and white glove integration services, the company said. The program is free to participate in and available by invitation in the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and Japan.
In an interview at Money20/20 Europe in Copenhagen, Patrick Gauthier, vice president, Amazon Payments, told Paybefore that Amazon largely has gotten over the hump of being seen as a merchant competitor. While some of the largest retailers still may see Amazon as a rival, Gauthier says other merchants are realizing the wealth of benefits Amazon brings to the table, including access to 304 million global customers that actively shop online and a trusted brand. Merchants that adopt Pay with Amazon will see it jump to one of the top three payment methods on the site overnight, he said. “There’s nothing miraculous about it. Amazon gives consumers confidence,” Gauthier added, noting that it it’s also an easy and familiar way to pay.
“Most consumers don’t want to relearn how to pay,” he continued. Gauthier, who’s not a fan of the term “omnichannel commerce,” says Amazon is focused instead on connected customer experiences. He envisions a world in which Amazon Payments provides access to multiple services that consumers connect to at home via Echo or Dash buttons, online, in their cars and (yes) in the store. “If you’re focusing on tapping a mobile phone to pay with a card, you’re focusing on last century’s problem,” he says. “If consumers spend 20 minutes shopping, 4 minutes standing in line and 30 seconds paying, why are we [in the payments industry] spending so much time on the last 30 seconds?”
Gauthier sees Amazon’s role in connected experiences as providing the commerce identity that helps consumers buy what they want, when and with confidence. In the past year the company has been taking steps in that direction with the launch of voice-controlled banking with Capital One and a partnership with Ford to enable Amazon customers to control garage doors and porch lights, access music, shopping and appointment lists, and perform other tasks while in their cars.
Related stories:
- Amazon’s Alexa Enables Capital One Voice-Controlled Banking
- Ford and Amazon Work to Make Cars Smarter
- Amazon Adds ‘Pay with Amazon’ for Mobile Apps
