Amazon is partnering with Western Union to let foreign-based customers, initially in 10 countries, make purchases through a system called Amazon PayCode, using local currency, according to a press release.

The Amazon PayCode technology allows customers to make purchases online, while the foreign exchange and settlement will be handled automatically on the Western Union platform. Customers will be sent a code on the Amazon PayCode checkout page and then given instructions on how to make payment at a Western Union location.

The service will initially be available in Chile, Columbia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

"Amazon is committed to enabling customers anywhere in the world to shop on Amazon.com, and a big part of that is to allow customers to pay for their cross-border online purchases in a way that is most convenient or them," said Ben Volk, director, payment acceptance and experience at Amazon, in the release.

The release cited Forrester Research data that 20 percent of e-commerce shopping would be cross-border by 2022, representing $630 billion in sales.