The increasingly stringent hygiene requirements seem to be boosting demand for mobile means of payment that do not involve handing over cash or entering a PIN code in combination with a card.
What’s more, over the past two weeks TWINT has recorded enormous growth in transactions and transaction volumes in the electronics, leisure and sports equipment, marketplaces, DIY, garden and hobby, luxury foods and takeaways/couriers segments, as well as in donations to relief organisations.
Although the number of payments made with TWINT has understandably declined significantly in restaurants, for public transport (e.g. in the SBB app) and in the ticketing and events segment due to the coronavirus emergency, TWINT is recording a massive increase in mobile payments in other segments – in terms of both the number of transactions and also the volumes.
In electronics shops, leisure and sports equipment stores, general electronic marketplaces and the DIY, garden and hobby segment, both the number of transactions and the volumes (paid sums) that have been made with TWINT have at least doubled.
In online shops in the home and furnishings and luxury food segments, TWINT has recorded an increase in the number of transactions and purchase amounts (volumes) of more than 60%.
What’s more, the number of mobile payments made to take-aways/couriers, booksellers, beauty and lifestyle product providers as well as for donations to relief organisations has risen by 30% to 70%!
The number of transactions for payments made using TWINT to the 30 largest e-commerce merchants has at least doubled, and in some extreme cases increased by 600%.
“This trend shows that TWINT is meeting a need here that was not as important before the crisis: the ability to make completely contactless payments at points of sale, as part of which you only need to hold your smartphone in your hand with the TWINT app open and do not have to touch any terminals. It is also highlighting the fact that a large number of people are only discovering that they can do their shopping via e-commerce now and want a mobile means of payment that they can link directly to their bank account and with which they do not have to enter any personal payment information,” said TWINT CEO Markus Kilb when describing the trend.
The fact that more money is being spent on each purchase made – the figure currently exceeds the highest figure recorded in the run-up to Christmas – has been explained by TWINT as being due to consumers shopping for electronic devices, furniture, sports equipment and garden products in online shops, as the corresponding bricks-and-mortar stores are closed. These products are more expensive than eating out in a restaurant or ordering a coffee on a morning. However, food is also increasingly being purchased in larger quantities from merchants that offer home delivery.
Double the number of registrations
All of this has led to consumers who had not previously registered for TWINT now discovering this mobile means of payment, which can be used almost everywhere.
Over the last ten working days, some 70,000 new customers have registered to use the means of payment via their bank or via TWINT itself. This constitutes a 100% increase on the normal growth rate.
Huge demand for TWINT as a means of payment from merchants
The current situation is leading to a large number of merchants, including smaller enterprises, in the distance selling sector now wanting to offer their customers the ability to use TWINT as a means of payment in their online shops. Although submitting an application on the TWINT website and setting up the system is quick and easy for small stores, online shops can ask their shop software suppliers to link the system up to their software and this can frequently take some time to organise. TWINT therefore expects that the demand from merchants will remain very high over the next few months.
This is also something that has not slipped the attention of payment service providers that offer their customers digital payment solutions. One such company is Payrexx: “The demand for simple online shop solutions for selling vouchers as well as for solutions for making donations has risen markedly over the past ten days. Here, TWINT sets the standard for Swiss merchants,” said Payrexx CEO Ivan Schmid.
Quotes from merchants
Bäckerei Schwyter, St. Gallen
Bäckerei Schwyter in St. Gallen is currently doing its part to provide the city with basic food supplies via its home delivery service. “No-one should do without fresh bread, even in these difficult times,” commented Manfred Ackermann, CEO of Bäckerei Schwyter. “That’s why we deliver our goods to our customers’ homes every day. Thanks to TWINT, we can also accept digital and completely contactless payments on the doorsteps of our customers' homes via a QR code displayed on a sticker. Not only is this system extremely simple, but it also hugely benefits our customers and employees.”
Saisonal asparagus importer and supplier, Zurich
“Extraordinary situations call for fast, unorthodox and unexpected solutions,” stated Caspar Ruetz, who, with his company Saisonal as an asparagus importer and supplier, quickly launched the “urban asparagus farm shop” in Zurich-Seefeld. He continued by saying that due to the current situation, many people have wanted to minimise the amount of contact they come into with cash, particularly in connection with the sale of food, which is why they are looking to TWINT as a cashless and contactless means of payment. “One of the advantages of the TWINT solution is its mobility. In addition, implementation was fast and transactions are always clear and transparent for both customers and merchants.”
German Contact
TWINT Media Department
Stauffacherstrasse 31
8004 Zurich
+41 76 584 33 71
[email protected]
French Contact
Marie-Hélène Hancock
Hirzel.Neef.Schmid.Konsulenten AG
Rue de Malatrex 50
1211 Genève
+41 79 204 21 22
[email protected]