There’s a bigger, badder fish swimming in the payment processing waters. Amazon has announced that it will take on the likes of PayPal, Square, and Intuit’s GoPayment with its new Amazon Local Register payment processing service. The eCommerce behemoth aims to supplant other services with technology engineered specifically to give small and medium businesses a cheaper, more effective way to take digital payments, whether in-store or online. Like Square, Amazon Local Register uses a card reader that can attach to smartphones and tablet computers.
With eCommerce on a Tear, the Move Isn’t Surprising
Amazon has been one of the main drivers of eCommerce for a long time now. In 2011, eCommerce was valued at $1 trillion, in 2013 $1.2 trillion. According to the most recent estimate from online financial analyst eMarketer, 2014 will see online spending spike to $1.5 trillion. Amazon, the company that not too long ago was credited by Forbesas being a bigger influence on online purchases than Google, has truly been the wind in the sails of digital commerce. This new service will allow them to continue that trend.
Amazon Comes with Built-in Brand Recognition, without the negative PR of PayPal
There can be no doubt that news of Amazon entering the market is cause for concern for Square, PayPal, and other big names. After all, Amazon comes into the game with something others never had: brand recognition. Consider, the company’s premium shopping and delivery service hosts 10 million active users. In 2013, along with the general consumer base, these premium members drove Amazon revenue above $74 billion. So far this year, the eCommerce behemoth shows no signs of slowing down.
Meanwhile, PayPal, arguably Amazon’s biggest rival in this sphere, has seemingly been struggling to adapt to meet customer demand for new and improved services. In other words, Amazon enters the payment processing world as the big shark, and there’s already blood in the water.