Is This the Next Industry Amazon Wants to Conquer?

Just days after announcing its 2016 fourth-quarter results, Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) issued a press release with a bold headline: "More than 33 Million Customers Have Used Amazon Payments to Make a Purchase." The release was seemingly out of left field. In the conference call for the previous quarter -- held less than a week before the press release was issued -- Amazon's management failed to mention Amazon Payments even once.

Matthew Cochrane

(CMFCochrane)

Feb 19, 2017 at 11:19AM

That's not to say the rare detailed look Amazon management gave us into the numbers wasn't impressive -- it was. The release gave plenty of updated stats on its Pay with Amazon service, a platform that allows shoppers to make purchases from third-party websites using the payment information from their Amazon account. As the headline proclaimed, more than 33 million customers have now used Pay with Amazon to make a purchase. The platform's payment volume doubled in 2016. Active merchants accepting Amazon Payments grew 120% year over year. More than 50% of the customers who used the platform were also Amazon Prime members.