Amazon shoppers can use Venmo for first time ahead of holiday shopping
The payment option will roll out to all customers by Black Friday
Shopping juggernaut Amazon now accepts Venmo.
Starting Tuesday, some Amazon customers will be able to pay with Venmo for purchases on Amazon.com and its mobile shopping app, the Seattle-based shopping giant announced. The move underscores the company's acceptance of digital transactions and commitment to providing customers with more flexible payment solutions, especially ahead of the holiday shopping season.
In 2021, for instance, Amazon partnered with Affirm, offering its first pay-over-time option. The payment option was also tested out just ahead of the 2021 holiday season with select shoppers.
This year, the Venmo payment service will roll out to all U.S. customers by Black Friday, Amazon said.
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In order to enable to service, customers will have to add their Venmo account as a payment method to their Amazon account. Then, customers will be able to use the payment option during checkout or even set Venmo as the default payment option, Amazon said.
Close up of man looking at Amazon website homepage on iPad. (Nigel Kirby/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"Whether it’s paying with cash, buying now and paying later, or now paying via Venmo, our goal is to meet the needs and preferences of every Amazon customer," Max Bardon, vice president of Amazon Worldwide Payments, said.
The American mobile payment service, which is owned by PayPal, was founded in 2009 and already has nearly 90 million users.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 198.38 | -4.50 | -2.22% |
| PYPL | PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. | 84.82 | +0.08 | +0.09% |
AMAZON’S PRIME DAY II SIGNALS HOLIDAY SPENDING HURDLES
The partnership comes amid a holiday season set against an uncertain economic environment.
Economists project that retail spending growth is expected to slow during the 2022 holiday season as higher costs continue to weigh on consumer budgets.
However, these higher costs are expected to drive a surge in e-commerce sales as more consumers seek out deals online "to maximize their spending," according to Nick Handrinos, vice chair at Deloitte.
Close-up of hand of a man using the Amazon mobile app to purchase household supplies from Amazon Prime, San Ramon, California, Nov. 22, 2019. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images / Getty Images)
From November through January, Deloitte projects that retail sales will grow between 4% and 6%, which is down considerably from the 15.1% growth during the same period last year.
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Meanwhile, e-commerce sales are estimated to grow between 12.8% to 14.3% compared with a year ago, reaching between $260 billion and $264 billion even with high inflation and rising borrowing costs, according to a recent Deloitte report. Last holiday season, e-commerce sales grew 8.4%.
Patrick Brown, vice president of growth marketing and insights at Adobe, is encouraged by the online shipping that has already occurred this year despite the economic headwinds many households are facing.
"It is notable that consumers have already spent over $590 billion online this year at 8.9% growth, highlighting the resiliency of e-commerce demand," Brown said in a statement earlier this month.
