Since first partnering with Vaimo in 2018, online payments application, Vipps, has gone from strength to strength in transforming the Norwegian payment landscape. First launched in 2016, Vipps now ranks as the leading payments player within the Nordics. And 2018 has been a particularly successful year in the company’s expansion plans.
In October 2018, the company appointed Berit Svendsen as its new Head of International Expansion. Svendsen, previously CEO of Telenor Norway, brings years of digital leadership to Vipps’ operations and, as her title indicates, wants to see Vipps competing in the global fintech arena.
The first step on this trajectory took place in December 2018, when Vipps signed a partnership with Alipay. Established by the Alibaba group, Alipay is the largest mobile payment platform in the world. The new agreement with Alipay allows Norwegian merchants to accept payment from Chinese users of Alipay via a simple QR code scan.
This represents Europe's first joint QR code mobile payment scheme connecting users of different payment providers.
The scheme will begin in the southwestern city of Bergen—a hub for Chinese tourists—before being rolled out across the country. As well as easier payments for Alipay users through QR code infrastructure, merchants will also benefit from marketing opportunities through the app. And with 900 million global Alipay users, this represents a huge new market for Norwegian businesses.
Underpinning much of the recent movement at Vipps is the merger which took place in early 2018 between Vipps, BankID Norge, and BankAxept. The merger has created the largest electronic payment and identification verification operator in the Nordic region and bolsters the company’s force in what is a competitive international payments market.
As a testament to the company’s success, Vipps has just been awarded the number one spotin a study of the most popular brands for 15-29-year-olds in Norway. The study, carried out by market research agency, Opinion, ranks Vipps ahead of global brands such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, Snapchat and Netflix. Given the global standing of the competition and the demographic in question, this is a huge achievement for Vipps and illustrates its impact on the Norwegian market.
"It has been a great pleasure collaborating with Vipps. Both their in-house team and technology are undergoing rapid expansion, and are building a strong position for the Vipps brand and offering within the fintech space. In the not too distant future we will see Vipps enter and disrupt other markets as well, continuously working to improve the digital customer experience at its core. In finishing, a lot of exciting things on the horizon for the Norwegian born technology company."
Andrew P Heap, eCommerce Consultant at Vaimo Norway
At Vaimo we’re proud to be partnering with Vipps as it continues its advancement in the payment industry. As well as developing the company’s pioneering module for Magento, we work closely with Vipps, helping the company to drive success in digital commerce. After the successes of 2018, we’re excited to see what the coming year holds for Vipps as it opens up its innovative payment app to larger audiences.
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