Amazon India is testing dine-in payments after ending meal delivery last year. Amazon Pay is being tested at eateries.
A restricted number of Bengaluru restaurants use the facility. Credit/debit cards, net banking, UPI, and Amazon Pay Later are accepted at Amazon Pay > Dining on the Amazon app. Amazon India already reduces bill payments at most listed restaurants.
The e-commerce group may test this in other cities. Amazon India declined to comment.
Zomato and Swiggy provide discounts and in-restaurant payments to attract customers. In addition, This month, Zomato and ICICI launched a UPI solution for faster checkout and bill payment.
Last year, the National Restaurant Association of India, a hospitality consortium, advised its members to avoid meal delivery payment systems.
Amazon’s latest experiment aims to engage Indian customers.
According to Sanford C. Bernstein, it has difficult to enter smaller Indian settlements. The E-commerce giant claims 85% of its consumers are from tier 2/3 cities/towns.
Bernstein observed that the company is slipping behind Walmart-backed Flipkart due to stringent regulations. In addition, in Q1 2023, Amazon deleted India mentions for the first time since 2014.
Amazon joined India’s e-commerce ministry’s Open Network for Digital Commerce in a limited capacity earlier this year to develop an “interoperable” seller network. However, However, ONCD wants shops to join a digital network without Amazon and Flipkart.