Amazon India, after discontinuing its food delivery service last year, is now venturing into the dine-in payments arena. The tech giant has initiated a limited trial of restaurant bill payments through its Amazon Pay feature.
Currently available in select regions of Bengaluru and limited to specific restaurants, customers can access the payments feature by navigating to Amazon Pay > Dining in the Amazon app. Users can pay their bills with various payment methods such as credit/debit cards, net banking, UPI, or Amazon Pay Later. Presently, the company is offering discounts on bill payments at virtually every listed restaurant.
There is no information on whether this initiative is being tested in other cities, and Amazon India representatives have not responded to requests for comment. This move positions Amazon in direct competition with food delivery giants Zomato and Swiggy, both of which already provide in-restaurant payment and discount options in a bid to attract new users. Earlier this month, Zomato launched a dedicated UPI service in collaboration with ICICI Bank to offer expedited checkout and bill payment features to its customers.
In a warning issued last year, the National Restaurant Association of India, a hospitality sector consortium, advised its members against using dining payment products from food delivery firms. Amazon's latest experiment indicates its continued efforts to seek innovative ways to engage with customers across India.
According to a report from investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein, Amazon has encountered challenges in penetrating smaller towns in India and lags behind Walmart-backed Flipkart due to a difficult regulatory landscape. The e-commerce giant, however, maintains that 85% of its customers reside in tier 2/3 cities and towns. The expansion of Amazon Pay into dine-in payments suggests that the company remains determined to make its mark in the Indian market.
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