Google has added paysafecard, a leading prepaid solution and part of the Paysafe Group (Paysafe), as a new payment method in the Google Play Store in the UK and four additional European countries: Germany, France, Spain and Greece.
The expansion of the Google/Paysafe partnership follows the successful launch of paysafecard as a Google Play Store payment method in Poland Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Cyprus since June, meaning it is now available in 10 European countries.
paysafecard enables consumers to use cash to pay online, simply and safely, using a 16-digit PIN to complete the payment transaction. It opens up significant possibilities for Google and online shopping for millions of consumers who were previously excluded - either because they don't have a bank account or credit card, or don't want to enter their bank account details on the internet, often for security reasons. According to a market agent study, this accounts for more than 30% of all Europeans.
The UK ecommerce market has a total value of €178 billion, according to the European B2C Ecommerce Report 2018. Figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics show that one in every five pounds spent in UK shops is now online, and online sales rose by 15.3 per cent over the past year and, now representing record high of 18.2 per cent of all retail sales.
Commenting on the expansion of the partnership, Udo Müller, CEO of paysafecard, said: “paysafecard empowers people to shop online in a quick, convenient and secure way even if they don’t have a bank account, or simply don’t want to share details of their bank account online. Collaborating with brands like Google is an important part of our growth and ensures that paysafecard fulfils the needs of millions of customers on the Google Play Store.”
paysafecard can be purchased via a network of over 600,000 sales outlets around the world, including 27,000 sales outlets in the UK, 40,000 in France, 27,000 in Greece, 59,000 in Germany and 72,000 in Spain. Outlets include leading petrol station chains, supermarkets, lottery retailers and kiosks.