Vodacom, Alipay partner to launch new lifestyle, payments super app

7th August 2020

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Vodacom Financial Services has teamed up with digital lifestyle services platform Alipay to develop inclusive mobile solutions for South African consumers and merchants in a technology partnership aimed at reinventing the mobile fintech ecosystem.

The partnership will see the development of a single, affordable payments “super app” for both customers and merchants that promotes greater financial inclusion within the communities in which Vodacom operates.

Operated by Vodacom Financial Services, with Alipay as the technology provider, the super app will offer stellar digital customer experience, while bringing to life a marketplace of goods and services tailored to the needs of South African customers.

This will be underpinned by a progressive digital payments ecosystem designed to serve the banked and unbanked parts of the population.

Vodacom Financial Services aims to link South African merchants, suppliers and consumers on one affordable platform.

“This partnership is a significant milestone in promoting greater financial inclusion within the communities in which we operate, accelerating our financial services aspirations across Africa,” says Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.

The super app will make it easier for a customer to manage their entire life and business through a smartphone, from paying for coffee, sending money to friends and family and shopping online, through to paying utility bills, checking on business point-of-sales transactions and ordering new stock.

“We already offer South African customers an ecosystem of innovative digital financial services products, but this technology partnership with Alipay will enable us to be on par with leading global digital counterparts quicker and more efficiently.”

The platform will offer consumers a user-friendly, end-to-end experience that will improve transaction efficiency and introduce easy-to-use money management tools, says Vodacom Financial and Digital Services CEO Mariam Cassim.

“Not only will consumers have the ability to easily and affordably transact, they can also keep track of their monthly spend with each merchant they transact with every day,” she says, noting that the app is completely customisable to meet the specific financial and transacting needs of the user.

The new technology will also allow access to digital lifestyle solutions such as streaming music, playing games and watching videos, enews and cab-hailing, besides others.

Further, the app aims to tackle the challenges presented by the high costs of using digital and card payment in emerging business markets, which is one of the reasons why cash remains the dominant means of transacting.

“Vodacom Financial Services aims to remove the cost barriers traditionally associated with digital payments and further enable and promote financial inclusion in our country by allowing the emerging market more freedom to choose how they would like to process payments. “QR code scanning is an example of this,” she continues.

Vodacom Financial Services will work closely with Alipay to develop the app by early next year.

Alipay, which is owned and operated by innovative global technology provider Ant Group, serves more than 1.2-billion users worldwide together with its global e-wallet partners, says Ant Group global payment partnerships head Guoming Cheng.

“Alipay seeks to work with like-minded partners around the world to bring innovative and inclusive digital daily life services to consumers and small businesses globally.

“Vodacom Financial Services’ aim is to better serve customers and merchants in South Africa through digital technology, and we look forward to working with them to achieve this.”

The mobile payment platform will also be seamlessly integrated into the physical footprint of Vodacom’s VodaPay point-of-sale devices, offering merchants a single-payments processing solution for physical and mobile commerce.

It will potentially help previously underserviced small and medium-sized enterprises to access the best financial services solutions, such as lending through VodaLend, access to business insurance products and the ability to seamlessly order products from suppliers.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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