The second largest supermarket chain in South Africa, PicknPay, is accepting bitcoin payment for goods and services for a limited period at its head office campus store in Cape Town.
This has been made possible by the payment platform provided by tech company, Electrum, with bitcoin exchange Luno providing the payment infrastructure.
This is potentially the first major supermarket in Africa enabling bitcoins for payment. The bitcoin checkout process involves scanning a printed QR code using a bitcoin wallet app on the customer’s smartphone
Jason Peisl, IS Executive at Pick n Pay, explains,
“At Pick n Pay one of our key values is to embrace change and encourage innovation and leadership. To deliver on that promise we are constantly working with our technology partners to find ways in which we can deliver valuable, innovative services to our customers. Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin are still relatively new payment concepts, yet we have been able to effectively demonstrate how we are able to accept such alternative payments.“
According to Electrum MD Dave Glass,
“We’ve worked closely with PnP for several years as a key technology provider. Our mission is to support innovative enterprises like Pick n Pay, and together we use the advanced Electrum software-as-a-service technology to move quickly on new opportunities, whilst at the same time delivering the best possible shopping experience“.
Here is a video showing the payment process at Pick n Pay,
