Amazon.com announced last week that it will offer loans to some of its online sellers, a move that could boost the growth of its Internet marketplace. The activity is called Amazon Lending and sellers on the company’s marketplace have been sent emails offering loans from Amazon Capital Services Inc. at lower rates than credit cards.
Google did not want to be outdone by Amazon.com and offers customers lines of credit between $200 and $100,000 a month to pay for their use of Adwords, which places messages next to the results in its search engine. Google said it would set its initial interest rates considerably lower than prevailing rates for credit card debt for small and medium-sized businesses, with an 8.99 per cent rate in the US and 11.9 per cent in the UK.
Since banks are reluctant to lend to small businesses the resulting increase in credit transaction offered by Amazon and Google may boost information consumption.
Source: Financial Times and Gulfnews.com
