Ukash has teamed up with Transact
Network to launch its first open-loop product, significantly
extending its acceptance network in Germany and the UK.
The deal between Ukash and the
Gibraltar-based business means customers can make online payments
at 1.2m merchants in Germany and the UK that accept MasterCard
through a new product called UKash NEO.
Go deeper with GlobalData
It is a departure from Ukash’s
traditional business model, which is based around the purchase of
closed-loop vouchers in shops . The products are targeted at
“digitally-nervous” or “digitally-excluded” customers, chief
executive Mark Chirnside told EPI. Around 90% of the
business’s customers have bank accounts, but prefer to use UKash
products online because of concerns over fraud.
Different
proposition
Chirnside said: “A Ukash voucher is
free to the consumer at point of purchase in most markets in which
we operate – specifically the UK and Germany. Consumers can then
use it to pay for goods and services at websites that accept
Ukash.”
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By GlobalDataWhile the customer pays an upfront
fee, there are no charges for non-usage or ongoing charges, he
added. As well as significantly expanding the business’s acceptance
network, Ukash also extended its issuing network of merchants by
signing up 100,000 merchants in Russia through a deal with
electronic payments brand QIWI.
It takes the number of physical
sales outlets for the vouchers to 420,000.
Chirnside added: “We have recently
expanded our distribution network in Russia with several partners
including Wallet-One, RBKMoney and Xplat, and this new addition of
100,000 physical points of purchase is very significant for
Ukash.”
Ukash has also launched a new
product which allows customers to buy airtime for friends or
relatives abroad through a partnership with Transfer-to, a global
airtime transfer network is has called Ukash Air, through which
voucher-holders can fund airtime on mobiles in 26 countries.
