From today it is also possible in Italy pay for groceries via the app and with a QRcode with UBI Banca and SIA introducing Jiffy in the Iper, La grande i (Finiper Group) points of sale, bringing a further innovation in cashless payment methods.
The hypermarkets of Seriate, Orio al Serio, Rozzano and Vittuone are forerunners of this innovation in the sector of the Italian GDO (Large Organized Distribution) and will be followed shortly by another 23 points of sale of the brand, up to cover the remaining hypermarkets in 7 regions. The collaboration between UBI Banca and SIA, which in Italy had already launched Jiffy in 2014 to transfer money via smartphone between private individuals (P2P), therefore marks a further stage in the process of digitizing money in our country.
The initiative, according to what can be read in the note from Ubi Banca, “aims to support the development of more innovative methods of digital payment which exceeded 46 billion euros in 2017 with a 60% growth in furniture compared to 2016 for a total value of 6,7 billion euros in transactions. The agreement with Iper, La grande i – the first large-scale distribution brand to offer this service in Italy – is part of the retailer's initiatives aimed at enriching the customer experience with new payment options”.
Payment is made via smartphone thanks to Jiffy, the service developed by SIA which associates a mobile phone number with an IBAN and therefore allows both transfer money in real time between private individuals and to make payments to merchants. It works like this: once the purchases have been completed, by opening the payment app and framing the QRCode generated by the cash register with their smartphone, the customer can complete the payment with a simple touch on the screen. The service is also active in the self-service points.
The customer can make a payment in a few simple steps and by direct debit on his current account or on his card with IBAN through a transaction in a secure banking environment protected by access credentials or by the most advanced biometric systems; for its part, the merchant has an innovative method of managing and collecting payments.
“Today we are crossing another important milestone in the digitization of money in Italy,” he says Natascia Noveri, Marketing Manager of UBI Banca. “After being the first to introduce money transfer via smartphone thanks to the partnership with SIA, we are now bringing Jiffy's peer-to-peer system to the world of large-scale distribution thanks to the innovative vision shared with Iper. By simply framing a QR Code with their smartphone, customers will be able to pay for their groceries quickly and in total safety. No bank data is shared with the merchant. We are sure that enabling consumers to use their smartphone more frequently and easily to pay in the places they usually go to will help further increase adherence to cashless in Italy. This is the first important step of a path of continuous innovation in P2B which will soon bring other interesting news”.
"Thanks to this Iper agreement, La grande i makes available to its customers - whether they have a Carta Advantages or not - an innovative payment method, adding an important element to the digitization of the shopping experience", states the Directorate of Information Services of Iper Montebello Spa. "This initiative represents a further step towards the technological and application development to which our company looks favorably to offer customers cutting-edge services".
“The partnership with UBI and Iper marks a further and fundamental stage in Jiffy's digital evolution from P2P to P2B mode”, he comments Marco Polissi, Jiffy Manager of SIA. “Opening up to the large-scale retail channel demonstrates once again the flexibility and innovation of the service which offers a variety of usage opportunities via a smartphone: from instant money transfers between individuals to purchases in shops, up to payments in supermarkets ”.
