How South Africans Are Driving the Growth of Samsung Pay During Lockdown

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 18 November 2020 – The greater emphasis on health and the need to social distance recently, has amplified the relentless expansion of contactless payments, with Samsung Pay seeing significant growth in South Africa. The global pandemic has had a fundamental impact on our behaviours in a matter of months. With remote working and online shopping more of a norm, we’ve also adapted to the need to keep our distance, sanitise our hands and limit human contact. This is seen very clearly when we shop in-store which is why even more South Africans have enthusiastically gravitated towards Samsung Pay, as a safer, simpler and secure way to pay using our beloved smartphones. These are some of the reasons Samsung Pay has now surpassed 3 million transactions in the country, leading the way in the mobile tap-to-pay category. This could indicate a shift in how South Africans view cash, especially with the massive increase in smartphone usage. Additionally, Samsung Pay has grown, as it is also available in Samsung’s range of affordable A-series smartphones. This makes Samsung Pay accessible to over 40 Samsung Galaxy smartphones and watches.

“Samsung Pay just went extra contactless, making payments contact-free, which has enhanced its appeal to South Africans. As a pioneer in the category, South Africans placed their trust in the system early on. The impressive growth locally is fuelled by the country’s passion for innovation that puts their needs first – foremost security and secondly, convenience at its very finest. Samsung Pay reached two million transactions in February, so the acceleration in usage is immensely positive “says Kagiso Khaole, Head of e-commerce and Services at Samsung South Africa.

Samsung Pay Adds More Reasons to Go Contactless

• It offers users monthly competitions, allowing customers to win prizes for simply paying at their favourite stores with Samsung Pay.
• In addition, customers can buy prepaid vouchers for electricity, mobile airtime/data, gaming and multimedia streaming services like Netflix, Showmax and Spotify as well as the offer of a Newsstand subscription, which provides access to thousands of magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription of R90 per month. Samsung Pay customers gain instant access to the multitude of titles both local and international, accessible from any device with a shelf value of approximately R45 a magazine, including categories of automotive, arts, health, sport, family, financial and entertainment to mention a few.

About Samsung Pay

The popular payment solution has enhanced the way we pay, via the ability to use multiple payment cards from our banking partners in one digital wallet, with our network now including ABSA, Standard Bank, First National Bank, RMB Private Bank, Discovery Bank, Investec, Nedbank, Virgin Money and British Airways.  Store loyalty cards can also be added to Samsung Pay on Galaxy devices, for additional convenience – making a traditional wallet far less necessary and checkout even quicker.

Security is one of the biggest concerns in payment systems and consumers can rest assured that Samsung Pay comes with an additional layer of security know as Samsung Knox, a set of security features pre-installed in most Samsung smartphones, tablets and wearables to provide our consumers with peace of mind. Samsung Knox technology constantly monitors your phone to keep your information safe while every purchase uses an encrypted digital token for added security, so your actual card number is never stored or used during a transaction and your token information is encrypted in a separate and secure data vault at all times. Ultimately, Samsung Pay has re-imagined the way we pay.

Samsung Pay can be used with the following devices: Galaxy Z Fold2, Galaxy Z Flip, Note20 Ultra 5G, Note20 Ultra, Note20 5G, Note20, S20 Ultra, S20+, S20, S20 FE, S10+, S10, S10e, Note10+, Note10, Note10 Lite (NFC only), Note9, Note8, S9+, S9, S8+, S8, S7 Edge, S7, A9, A80, A8, A71, A70, A7 (2017), A51, A5 (2017), A31, A30s, Galaxy Watch 3, Galaxy Watch, Watch Active, Watch Active2, Gear S3 and Gear Sport.

* 97% acceptance rate based on local trials for compatible smartphones (NFC and MST). Compatible wearables and smartphones (NFC only) will have a lower acceptance rate.

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