SmartVoucher Ltd. this week added Denmark to its list of Scandinavian countries where consumers may use its Ukash vouchers to shop online.
The United Kingdom-based company’s e-commerce payment method is available at 7-Eleven stores across the country. Consumers can get Ukash vouchers in Danish krone.
Ukash launched in Sweden in December 2009, and in Norway in February 2010.
Consumers who either are unbanked or banked and concerned about sharing their financial information on the Internet may give a Ukash partner cash in exchange for a voucher that has a 19-digit code. They can send the code by phone, put it on a card or print it on a piece of paper.
The user enters the code in a window at checkout after choosing the Ukash payment option when buying from one of approximately 5,000 online merchants that support Ukash. The code disappears once used, and if there is a balance remaining, the system develops a new code for the remainder. The Ukash website shows that participating merchants specialize in gaming, communications, e-wallets, prepaid cards, poker and sports betting.
Zilvinas Bareisis, a senior analyst with UK-based financial technology consultant Celent, tells PaymentsSource the distribution agreement with 7-Eleven is important but wonders whether there is a demand for Ukash’s service in Denmark.
“The challenge Ukash will face in Denmark is that so far it has been a very cards-oriented market,” he says. “Over 85% of e-commerce transactions are done via cards, and alternative payment methods have struggled so far to break into this market in a meaningful way. It will be interesting to see if Ukash is able to buck the trend with this partnership.”
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