Opinion | E-credit battle
Amazon’s e-credit service Pay Later could act as a pre-emptive flank for the firm to defend its e-commerce business from any incursion by the JioMart-WhatsApp combine
Amazon is reported to have launched a service that offers its online shoppers in India virtual loans. Amazon Pay Later, as it’s called, extends interest-free credit for a month, with the option of paying bills in equated monthly instalments over a year at a modest charge. While this seems timed to help customers overcome a covid-19-caused cash crunch, it could also act as a pre-emptive flank for the company to defend its e-commerce business from any incursion by the JioMart-WhatsApp combine.
Now that Reliance and Facebook have joined hands, their JioMart and WhatsApp units are expected to storm the country’s online retail market with a payment facility that might include a credit option. Regulatory clearances may not take too long for the two new partners to go all out with buy-now-pay-later deals. So, Walmart-owned Flipkart, the other big player in the fray, will need to up the ante too. In all, a frenzy of competition will serve Indian consumers well. So far, the e-commerce game has been about prices and service quality. The use of social media could, however, alter its dynamics, just as the availability of credit can.
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