VISA, SHOPEE INK AGREEMENT TO SPUR MSMES INTO DIGITAL ECONOMY

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 -- Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, and Shopee have inked a five-year regional strategic partnership to encourage greater participation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia’s digital economy.

In a joint statement, they said users who use Visa to shop in Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, will enjoy additional promotions and rewards.

The agreement will include among others, incentivising MSMEs to digitalise their business on Shopee and adopt digital payments through Visa, and provide MSMEs with marketing and campaign support to drive awareness, traffic and sales to online stores.

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It will also launch co-branded credit cards in collaboration with local banks; offer fast, easy and secure Visa payments to all Shopee users; and create unique experiences for Shopee users through Visa’s exclusive sponsorship platforms.

Visa will tap into Shopee’s extensive user base to expand its presence with Southeast Asia MSMEs and online shoppers.

“When a small business goes digital, they are plugged into a much broader commerce landscape. Visa is working to help any business, regardless of size or location, better attract and serve more local and global customers by getting enabled to accept digital payments in a safe and secure manner," said Visa, Asia-Pacific head (Merchant Sales and Acquiring), Neil Mumm.

He said this is important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers and businesses increasingly adopt touchless payments and online shopping.

"Visa is looking forward to working with Shopee to extend access to the digital economy for small businesses across Southeast Asia.

"Our expanded partnership with Shopee is one of the exciting ways Visa is supporting small businesses as they recover and look towards future growth," Mumm added.

Meanwhile, Shopee chief operating officer Terence Pang said the company looked forward to working with Visa in order to leverage its extensive and secure network to make it easier for sellers to digitalise, mainly for those in two-tier cities and rural areas.

Over the next few months, Visa and Shopee will also launch co-branded credit cards across selected markets in partnership with local banks. In Malaysia, the Maybank Shopee Credit Card was launched in June 2020.

The partnership will also see Shopee deepen its relationship with CyberSource, Visa’s full-service payment management platform, to support transaction processing and fraud detection and also to ensure a smooth and frictionless online shopping experience.

-- BERNAMA