Shop and pay on Amazon.com using Kenyan shillings (Kes/Ksh) directly

Western Union unveils a new payment option for Amazon.com shoppers in Kenya

Amazon.com, Inc. or just Amazon is a multinational technology company based in in Seattle, Washington, United States which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

Western Union is a cross border money movement company, an American financial services and communications company based in Meridian, Colorado, United States.
Here's the best part, Western Union Company has unveiled a new payment option that allows Amazon.com customers in Kenya to pay in local currency for their Amazon.com purchases dubbed ‘PayCode’.

I know buying stuff on Amazon.com from Kenya has always been an uphill task because of the payment methods but now Western Union’s money remittance platform will make it a downhill task enabling customers who prefer to pay in cash to shop Amazon.com’s vast product selection.

Amazon had the choice of working with Ripple (payment Protocol), a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network created by Ripple Labs Inc., a US-based technology company but choose to work with Western Union as it has been in the market for decades and is well known globally having many branches in many countries.

Similar partnerships with Western Union are already working in nine other countries across the globe including in Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

How it works:

1. Click on the item you want to purchase.

2. Click on Add to Cart if you are still shopping for more items, if not go ahead and click on Buy Now.

3. Select on the address you want it delivered to.

4. After selecting the destination address you will be moved to the above page, now select Pay with Cash using Amazon PayCode.

After selecting PayCode checkout, a code with instructions on how to pay in person at a Western Union agent will be sent to you.

As easy as 1 2 3, Amazon.com is definitely expanding its customer access horizons and closing on payment gaps which is something many have been waiting for ages. According to Forrester Research, it estimates Amazon.com's cross-border shopping will represent 20% of e-commerce by 2022, with sales reaching $630 billion.

Now this deal comes in at the best time when many online shopping platforms have come up in Kenya and I know some of you have bought something from x shopping site, after picking it and opening it at home its not working or something about it that's on the specifications on the site is not there on the actual item. Time for real competition and with competitions comes quality.

Comment below on what you think about this move by Amazon and what else you want to know or learn in tech. Subscribe using your email to get our updates and newsletter and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Until next article, peace.