Facebook Messenger an eCommerce Development Strategy

Following Facebook strategy it appears that it is about to announce new features particularly in its Facebook Messenger 

The development stage for an in-store mobile payment capability.

According to The Information, following a source code analysis of the iPhone Facebook Messenger app it can be seen and noted commands such as "pay in person" and "pay directly in Messenger when you pick up the item"  therefore it can be deduced that Facebook Messenger can have in-built the capability for in-store purchasing features. Nevertheless, Facebook was not yet responded to this new feature which is most likely in a development stage. 

Furthermore, it is already possible send money to a friend via Facebook Messenger, however the iOS app code implies that Facebook will most likely expand Facebook Messenger features and capabilities as a payment tool. This follows a similar pattern in the peer-to-peer payment feature was also predicted months ahead of official release with an analysis of the app's code, which Engadget reported.

This is despite what Mark Zuckerberg said, that Facebook was not planning to launch its own payment product. However,  Apple Pay was mentioned as a potential partner (transcript provided by Seeking Alpha is can be read below):

On payments, the basic strategy that we have is to make it especially in products like Messenger that where the business interaction maybe a bit more transactional, to take all the friction out of making the transactions that you need. So, we don’t view ourselves as a payments business, that’s not the type of company that we are. We’ll partner with everyone who does payment. We look at the stuff that Apple is doing with Apple Pay for example as a really neat innovation in the space that takes a lot of friction out of transactions as well. And our view is that the less friction, the better the user experience, the more people can easily interact with businesses that they care about. And ultimately for our business that will drive up the amount that businesses are willing to pay to advertise to send people into those interactions because they perform well. So it’s good for everyone but that’s how we think about that.

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UK PayPal Providing Customers Card Readers for Mobile Payments

UK PayPal is to provide its customers with the Square functionality and further details can be read on the Paypal blog. Mobile business customers will be able to use and accept card payments from anyone on the move with chip and PIN processing capability. It is expected to be available to all sometime in the summer.

It is called PayPal Here, which comprises of a card-reader that can used alongside an iOS or Android smartphone combined with the PayPal Here mobile app. It is expected for the PayPal card reader to cost around £75, and for every single payment it will cost around 2.75% transaction fee. 

Other current competitors in UK market include iZettle, Payleven, SumUp, mPowa and soon too Intuit.

Cameron McLean, of PayPal UK stated in a context of small businesses benefits: "Cash and cheques have served us well over the years but businesses that rely on them risk missing valuable sales". 

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Payleven Expanding Mobile Card Payments to Many Countries

The investment internet technology group Rocket Internet, from the Samwer brothers has high hopes for Payleven, as a result today has announced that the solution is now available in the UK, Netherland, Poland and Brazil.

It appears that pay mobile technology is striving to to increase market share, particularly as smartphones are gaining ever more popularity among consumers. Furthermore, from a business perspective, in the supermarkets, shops and other pay point locations are looking for cheaper solutions that offer lower rates than the traditional terminal transactions pay at till services.

Many shops do not accept card payment for less than £5 already, and the news that in some countries such as Portugal, where a large supermarket chain announced that will not be accepting payments for less than €20 at the till when customers use card payments.

Nevertheless, following on today's news how other solution providers such as  iZettle and mPowa, how they will react is not yet clear, however we should see interesting expansion plans coming up soon, not forgetting  Square expansion.

The solution currently accepts Mastercard with Visa and American Express credit cards support coming shortly, with the "Chip & PIN” technology.  The way Payleven works is that it is on a fee per transaction, without subscription fees and no minimum turnover or fixed fee.