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Opera's new online shopping cashback service is built directly into its browser

The new feature is currently available in Spain.

Opera

Opera is turning to e-commerce to help it stand out from rival web browsers with the launch of a cashback service. Starting today, Opera is testing a smart shopping mode in its desktop browser that lets users claim money back when purchasing items from partners like Nike, Asos and travel booking site eDreams.

At launch, the feature is tied to Opera's new Dify payments app, with extra cashback for those that use the digital wallet to make online shopping payments. Like other services of its ilk, Dify lets you create a current account and receive a Mastercard debit card to shop using Google Pay. Further down the line, Opera has plans to turn Dify into a fully-fledged fintech service, with more wallet options, including savings management, credit, investment and instant cashback. Opera's latest feature is currently offered in beta in Spain, with plans to roll it out to more European regions in the future.

By baking the shopping mode into its browser, instead of relying on third-party plug-ins, Opera will theoretically be capturing all the clicks in the background and calculating when you've made a purchase in order to send your money back. The move effectively sees it jumping in at the ground level for e-commerce by directly powering transactions in the hopes of keeping users glued to its browser-integrated shopping and payments ecosystem.

You don't have to look far for a similar example: PayPal in 2019 acquired money-saving service Honey for $4 billion to maneuver itself to the start of a user's shopping experience.

Needless to say, the new mode should also see Opera earn a kickback from partner transactions and generate additional revenue as it looks to expand into new avenues. It's one of many web browsers that have had to find new ways to distinguish themselves from Google Chrome. For Opera, this has meant trying out everything from gaming to deeper social media integration and even an in-browser cryptocurrency wallet.