Australian e-tailer Woolworth launches Wpay payments platform

By Leandra Monteiro

Woolworths Group, the parent company of global supermarket chain Woolworths, announced the launch of its payments solution, WPay, targeting both the New Zealand and Australian markets. With this move, Woolworths is challenging the Big Four banks by offering its payment processing capabilities to other businesses, including retailers and hospitality operators.

Aside from payment solutions, suppliers in the regions have also been looking for easier ways to integrate gifting, loyalty, and direct marketing platforms into their services. This demand was met by Australian e-tailer Woolworths.

According to media reports, Woolworths Group CEO, Brad Banducci said, “As Australia and New Zealand’s largest retailer, we’ve been investing in leading-edge payment capabilities to service our retail businesses for many years. We believe there is value in extending the benefits of the investments we’ve made in our payments platform to other merchants who may not have the scale to build it themselves. Payments are an increasingly important part of the shopping experience both in-store and online and we bring unique expertise to this space as retailers. We’ll continue to invest in our platform to unlock the best possible experience for our stores and merchant partners.”

The launch of Wpay is part of chief executive Brad Banducci’s strategy of generating revenue streams by building a retail ecosystem and opening its supply chain (Primary Connect), data analytics (Quantium), media (Cartology) and rewards programs to third parties to accelerate growth.

Prior to the launch of WPay, the group has been actively involved in numerous efforts, such as launching digital start-up HealthyLife, targeting the health-conscious market with health and wellness advice and products, and revamped its e-commerce delivery subscription service Delivery Unlimited.