Pesapal yesterday announced the integration of Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, FitBit Pay and Google Pay payments on its new tap-and-go, contact-less Sabi M010 terminals. Business owners across East Africa will now be able to conveniently accept digital wallet payments from their customers as more consumers look for cashless options for making payments.
Digital wallet payments are used in place of credit or debit card, chip and PIN transactions. Customers save their cards on their smartphones and digital watches and then tap on a terminal to complete a payment. Pesapal’s Sabi terminals enable merchants to accept these payments securely and reduces the time it takes to process payments within their premises.
“New payment technologies are exciting for us. With digital wallets, the ability for a consumer to transact quickly and securely enables the merchant to focus on providing more value for the customer, with the transactions taking the least time in the process. As a leading payment service provider, and especially in the hospitality and tourism industry, this will be key to stimulate spending among digital wallets users. ”, said Pesapal CEO Mark Mwongela
East Africa receives over 6 million tourists every year, from North America, Europe, Australia and China. As tourist numbers grow, local businesses along the tourism value chain such as hotels, restaurants, taxis, curio shops and tour operators will be able to sell more when they can accept digital wallet payments.
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Samsung Pay is compatible with select Samsung Android mobile devices, including Gear S2, Gear S3, Gear Fit2 and Gear Sport watches as well as Samsung phones updated to Android 5.0. That includes the phones from the Galaxy series that were released after the S6 and Note 5.
With over 25 million daily users worldwide, Google Pay uses NFC technology to securely transmit card information to the Sabi M010 card reader. All customers have to do to pay is simply hold their phone to the card reader while the phone app is open.
Apple Pay now has over 252 million users worldwide with an estimated 31 percent of iPhone users having made a purchase using the service in the past one year.
“Tourists carry their phones everywhere and when local traders and businesses accept payments from digital wallets, tourists can spend more which is good for local businesses. Tourism spend helps creates good quality jobs, raises the standard of living and as we have seen, leads to improved infrastructure and services for everyone.” added Pesapal CEO Mark Mwongela.
The payment options are immediately available to all merchants in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania who are using the Sabi M010 device. All transactions are processed via Visa Accelerated Connection Platform (ACP) and secured by CyberSource Inc, providing end to end safety for both consumers and merchants who use the service.
