MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY – APRIL 10, 2019 — The Western Union Company, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement, today unveiled a new payment option that allows Amazon.com customers in Uruguay to pay in local currency for their Amazon.com purchases. The new payment option enables customers who prefer to pay in cash to shop Amazon.com’s vast product selection.
Western Union’s platform is powering Amazon’s new cross-border payment option, called Amazon PayCode, by processing the complex foreign exchange, settlement and money movement requirements for international e-commerce transactions. The service has been rolled out initially in 10 countries – Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand – and will continue to expand globally in 2019.
The new payment option makes it easy for more customers to shop Amazon.com and the Amazon mobile app. After selecting PayCode on the Amazon checkout page, customers will be sent a code, along with instructions on how to pay in person at a participating Western Union® agent location. The move by Western Union and Amazon provides greater access to online goods for customers who have largely been excluded from e-commerce shopping due to lack of accepted payment methods.
Expanding Customer Access and Closing the Payments Gap
Forrester Research estimates that cross-border shopping will represent 20% of e-commerce by 2022, with sales reaching $630 billion.1 Choice, quality and cost are the main motivations for customers to shop online from overseas, but there are challenges and concerns about the lack of payment options for those who prefer to pay in person or those who do not have access to international credit cards or debit cards.
“We’re helping to unlock access to Amazon.com for customers who need and want items that can only be found online in many parts of the world,” said Khalid Fellahi, SVP and General Manager of Western Union Digital. “This is a great example of two global brands innovating and collaborating to bring customers more convenience and choice. In a world where cross-border buyers and sellers are often located on different continents and in completely different financial ecosystems, our platform is ideally suited to solving the complexity of collecting local currency and converting it into whatever currency merchants need on the other end.”
“Amazon is committed to enabling customers anywhere in the world to shop on Amazon.com, and a big part of that is to allow customers to pay for their cross-border online purchases in a way that is most convenient for them”, said Ben Volk, Director, Payment Acceptance and Experience at Amazon. “Amazon PayCode leverages the reach of Western Union to make cross-border online shopping a reliable and convenient experience for customers who do not have access to international credit cards or prefer to pay in cash.”
For more information about the new Western Union payment option visit: www.westernunion.com/paylocal/uy For more information about Amazon PayCode visit: https://www.amazon.com/paycode
About Western Union’s Cross-Border Platform
Western Union’s cross-border, cross-currency money movement platform – including a robust digital footprint, settlement, treasury and compliance infrastructure, a vast global retail network of over half a million locations, and the ability to send money to billions of accounts and mobile wallets – sets the standard for international money movement. With operations in more than 200 countries and territories, Western Union’s platform processed an average of 34 transactions every second and moved $300 billion in principal across 130 currencies in 2018.
Connecting the digital and physical worlds of money, Western Union’s technology stack, APIs, foreign exchange and settlement engine, agent network, anti-money laundering and fraud detection capabilities make it one of the largest digital and physical money movers for consumers around the globe. Approximately 75% of Western Union’s digital transactions globally now originate on mobile devices.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement. As of December 31, 2018, our global network includes over 550,000 retail agent locations offering Western Union, Vigo or Orlandi Valuta branded services. Westernunion.com, our fastest growing channel in 2018, is available in more than 60 countries, plus additional territories, to move money around the world. With our global reach, Western Union moves money for better, connecting family, friends and businesses to enable financial inclusion and support economic growth. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
1Source: Forrester Research, “Online Cross-Border Retail Forecast, 2017-2022 (Global)”, April 20, 2017
