16/07/09 -
Ukash reveals international expansion plan
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E-commerce payment provider Ukash plans to launch prepaid cash
vouchers in Australia, New Zealand and Canada in a series of
rollouts over the coming weeks.
Speaking exclusively to Lafferty Cards News, Ukash CEO Mark
Chirnside said the company has already begun a technical rollout of
the vouchers in Australia, and plans to follow this up with a
commercial launch around the end of July. The company is due to
make its prepaid cash vouchers available in Canada on 1
September.
Chirnside said: "The Australia rollout will quickly be followed
by a launch in New Zealand as we are working with the same partner.
The New Zealand launch should be completed by the end of the
summer. We would like to launch in Asia as well, but it is about
trying to find the right partner."
Ukash's expansion into Australia and New Zealand follows the
launch of prepaid vouchers in South Africa in November 2008. This
was carried out in partnership with Blue Label Telecoms.
As part of a drive to increase its availability, Chirnside added
that an initiative with Vodafone will go live in August, offering
consumers the ability to purchase Ukash cash vouchers from their
mobile phones.
Chirnside describes its target markets as customers who may have
been the victims of fraud and have therefore become "digitally
nervous", as well as the "digitally excluded", which are consumers
who are unable to transact online.
The future of prepaid products is often debated by commentators,
but Chirnside is confident about the prospects for prepaid because
of the current economic downturn.
"We are going into a prepaid world as consumers avoid the risk
of debt, which is very good for Ukash. I think Ukash will be used
more and more as a loading mechanism into other products," says
Chirnside.
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