WhatsApp to Add Merchants Payments For Brazil Users

Brazil users can now directly pay businesses through the app after Whatsapp’s new update. Although Whatsapp started the Payments feature a few years ago, Brazil users hadn’t received the update until now.

The announcement was made through a post where Mark Zuckerberg announced the addition of this new feature.

Meta started by introducing peer-to-peer payment in Brazil, where users could send money directly to their contacts through the app. However, some regulatory restrictions stalled the launch of Merchant Payments for Whatsapp users in Brazil.

The Central Bank of Brazil believed that introducing Whatsapp pay could damage the country’s existing payment options.

The only way users could pay businesses through Whatsapp previously was if the merchant generated a payment link and sent it over Whatsapp. As you can see, this process is unnecessarily cumbersome and requires too many additional steps. Naturally, no user was interested in paying through this method.

But with the introduction of Merchant Payments, things have become much easier for the Brazilian user.

There is no recent update on how many businesses have signed up with Whatsapp and registered their company. However, a 2020 report suggests that 5 million businesses have already signed up for their service.

What’s New On Whatsapp Pay?

The biggest USP of their new payment feature is you’ll get multiple payment options. You can choose among debit/credit cards, Visa, Mastercard, or prepaid cards issued by other authorized banks that have partnered with Whatsapp.

Some banks that have already collaborated with Whatsapp Pay in Brazil include Banco Inter, Banco Bradesco, MercadoLibre’s Mercado Pago, Unibanco Holding SA

Currently, Whatsapp has close to 120 million users in Brazil. Initial transfers are expected to be capped at 1000 reais or up to 20 transactions a day. The limit is expected to rise to 5000 reais in transactions for each day.

The roll-out is expected to happen in phases, starting with a few selected users who’ll be getting the payment feature on their app and will be allowed to invite new users.

WhatsApp Making Business Easy In Brazil

Whatsapp has constantly been working on improving business transactions and discovery in Brazil.

Meta is yet to issue an expected day for the rollout completion.

For example, along with the new payment feature, the company also launched a database-like tool called “Dictionary” for Brazil users. Using this tool, users could look up businesses near them. Be it food, travel, or clothing, Whatsapp has a list of the best businesses from almost all industries.

And now that Whatsapp has launched the in-app payment feature, customers can enjoy a seamless, end-to-end shopping experience within the app. They will start by looking up the best shops around them through the Dictionary feature and end by paying for their product/service directly through the app— there’ll be no need to hop on any other app.