Technology

Digital wallet or social network? PicPay launches chat within its app

"We believe that social resources will help drive our future growth," said Luiz Fernando Diniz, VP of Social at PicPay

PicPay executive Luiz Diniz
Luiz Fernando Diniz, VP of Social at PicPay. Photo: PicPay/Romulo Nobre
  • PicPay users and partner companies will have a chat at the app with several features to interact by private messages;
  • The new functionality is already available, in a testing phase, via the message icon available on the app’s home screen;
  • Users will be able to make purchases and request product replacement or refund, for instance, directly through the new feature.

Starting next week, PicPay users and partner companies will have a chat at the app with several features to interact by private messages, the company announced. The new functionality is already available, in a testing phase, via the message icon available on the app’s home screen.

With 48 million customers, the leading digital wallet in Brazil will insert transactions into the chat, allowing users to make purchases and request product replacement or refund, for instance, directly through the new feature. Picpay also expects to soon enable audio messages, photos, videos and group creations.

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By launching a messaging feature, PicPay moves forward to consolidate itself as a social network, with features fully integrated with financial services.

“PicPay is already present in the financial lives of users. Now, we will be part of the conversations that take place before and after a payment, whether between people or with companies,” said Luiz Fernando Diniz, VP of Social at PicPay.

According to the fintech, integrating financial services in an app that was born social, such as PicPay, allows chat messages to follow security standards even higher than conventional messaging, with solid barriers, equivalent to those of a financial institution.

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Diniz explains that PicPay was born with the DNA of a social network, materializing relationships that already exist on a daily basis. The feed, available since the app’s launch, is used by 95% of users.

Merging financial and social services, for PicPay, creates a network effect capable of leveraging all business units, as socially active users offer higher retention for platforms.

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According to the digital wallet, between 2019 and 2020, highly-active users of PicPay revealed a 2.4 times greater chance of continuing to use the platform and handled 53% more in transactions than other users. “We believe that social resources will help drive our future growth,” Diniz added.

Earlier this week, PicPay announced peer-to-peer lending (P2P), a loan from one user to another, among the portfolio of financial services offered in Brazil. The fintech also hired former Uber’s executive in Brazil, Guilherme Telles, to assume the positions of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO).

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