Bloomberg published a column regarding Amazon’s activity of late to delve further into payments with a product launch that has some similarities to PayPal:
Amazon.com Inc. has already given payment companies headaches by starting a rewards program and rolling out its own checkout button on retail websites. What if the e-commerce giant developed its own version of PayPal?
This would hold significant risks for incumbents like Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. — and PayPal Holdings Inc., of course — and it could happen in the next several years, according to Lisa Ellis, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst.
The article continues in the fashionable theme that all retail sectors need to fear Amazon. It is interesting to note that we have seen this playbook before. Sears, Roebuck and Company dominated the retail space beginning in the late 1800’s through the technology of the day, mass printing of catalogs delivered through the mail. They provided a place for consumers to buy everything from houses and farm equipment to household items. They began to open up small brick and mortar locations where consumers could place and pick up orders, like Amazon. They then got into retail stores to sell directly to consumers, like Amazon. They created a store card, like Amazon. And they created a global payment network, Discover, which perhaps is like Amazon.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Group at Mercator Advisory Group
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