Visa and Ksher partner to expand digital payments to online businesses in Thailand

Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, and Ksher, a leading digital payments service provider, announced a partnership that will make it easier for businesses selling online to accept Visa payments and take advantage of the continued growth in eCommerce.

Through this partnership, Ksher aims to enable over 10,000 online merchants, from established small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) to individual online sellers, to digitise and simplify their payments process by the end of 2021.

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Suripong Tantiyanon, country manager, Visa Thailand, said: “Today’s consumers are changing. They expect frictionless payments that are fast, convenient and secure. Enabling online sellers, regardless of their size, to accept digital payments will translate to higher selling opportunities, improved operational efficiencies, and better focus on growing their businesses. Visa is committed to helping any business, whatever their size or location, to have the tools to attract and serve more customers. This is particularly important in the current environment where we have seen significant increases in eCommerce. We are delighted to partner with Ksher to create more opportunities for businesses to grow and thrive in the digital economy.”

Santit Jirawongkraisorn, senior vice president of Ksher, said: “As a leading digital payments service provider, we continue to explore opportunities and pioneer new products that will empower Thai businesses. Our goal is to pave the way for sellers to participate in the new social and digital economies by making it simpler and easier to accept digital payments whichever platform they choose to sell from. Our partnership with Visa means we are now able to offer more seamless and more secure digital payments to Thailand’s fast-growing number of online sellers and give them access to a digitised solution which simplifies and standardizes payment acceptance.”

Ksher will focus on introducing LinkPay, an instantly deployable payment product that can be used by sellers wherever they sell. When used in a selling scenario during conversational commerce, customers need only scan a QR code or click a link to pay. They are then taken to a secure page where they add their credit or debit card details and pay. LinkPay will authenticate the purchase, match the payment to the order, and send a real-time notification of the transaction to the seller and buyer to show the transaction is complete. Linkpay allows sellers to manage orders and check their balance from anywhere and can be shared across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LINE, YouTube, and WhatsApp.

During the past year Thai consumers have turned to digital payments when shopping, with 21 per cent of people using QR codes to pay for the first time. Visa’s latest Consumer Payment Attitudes study found that more than three in four Thais use QR code payments (77 per cent) at least once a week. Gen Y (48 per cent) is most familiar using QR codes to pay, followed by Gen X (40 per cent) and Gen Z (38 per cent).

“Increasingly tech-savvy consumers, more flexibility in how and where we work, and the need for speed, security and convenience are shifting the commerce landscape in Thailand. That means we need to think creatively about the solutions we provide for today’s sellers to enable them to keep up with the changing behaviours and habits. We are excited about the possibilities of reaching many more small and agile merchants in partnership with Ksher, and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship,” added Suripong.