SumUp is showing no sign of slowing down as it continues to plow through the European market with the announcement of its launch into the Russian market.
The Russian launch is SumUp’s eleventh European market—with other operations in the UK, Germany, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, and Belgium, reports TechCrunch.
The support team is based in a new office in Moscow, and will provide native-language assistance for clients in Russia. SumUp has also announced a partnership with the Russian retail and financial conglomerate, Svyaznoy Group. SumUp will use Svyaznoy Group’s 3,000-store electronic retail network to distribute card readers across Russia.
SumUp will get a head start in the Russian market since Svyaznoy stores will also adopt SumUp’s card payments solution for customers. Svyaznoy primarily focuses on phone sales, digital equipment and portable electronics. The retailer is responsible for providing almost a third of the Russian population with smartphones.
SumUp announced that its services are now available for Russian businesses and can be found in Svyaznoy stores and on the company website.
Daniel Klein, CEO of SumUP, revealed that the startup is concentrating on over six million small businesses throughout Russia. SumUp is also hoping to ride the wave of increased mobile usage occurring across Russian businesses.
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Russia still remains a heavily cash-based economy and has an underdeveloped banking system. However, unlike other financially underdeveloped countries, Russian consumers do not live under the poverty level and are highly educated, according to East-West Digital News. And, although Russia has been slow to catch up with the rest of Europe, it seems they are making a quick turn and investing in the latest payment technologies.
“We see a real need for an easy and secure solution for card payment acceptance in the Russian market. We are excited to work with the strongest possible partner in Russia right from the start,” Klein said to TechCrunch.
To read the full story at TechCrunch click here, or to read the article at East-West Digital News click here.
