Retail payments experts to reveal exclusive deals

Thursday 10 October 2019

Retail payments experts to reveal exclusive deals at Wairarapa launch event

Attracting both local and visitor spend to Wairarapa’s retailers is about to become much easier with the introduction of The WaiPay Project launching on Monday with events in Carterton and Martinborough.

Wairarapa is fast becoming a black hole for payments and is being left behind in the rapidly evolving world of payments. An increasing amount of the population is making purchases using contactless and mobile wallets, with many Wairarapa business owners unaware they are driving away business by not accepting up-to-date payment methods.

The WaiPay event will show Wairarapa retailers just how cheap and easy it is to make sure people know their store exists and allow people to make purchases using their preferred method of payment, whether that’s PayWave, Apple Pay or ‘buy now pay later’.

The event has attracted the big names in payments - Afterpay, AliPay, Windcave and Flexi Group, with some announcing special deals made available to Wairarapa retailers, which will benefit any size business, regardless of whether they’re a café, local dairy, fashion retailer or tourist hotspot. They will also present the most up-to-date payment solutions currently being used worldwide in the retail payments sector and share their predictions as consumer behaviour continues to change at high speed.

Getting onboard was a no-brainer for local winery Luna Estate, who already accept Alipay at their cellar door;

“We’ve been operating internationally for many years, so know how important it is to create a frictionless sales experience for customers - especially those used to online and mobile ways to pay” said General Manager of Luna, Melanie Phillips.

“We’ve been using AliPay for our Chinese customers too, and know that there’s more potential with their in-app marketing, so we’ll be at the launch to take it to the next level”

Although in recent years, tourism spend has provided much-needed support for shops in our typical tourist hotspots, this is only one part of the retail ecosystem and many retailers are facing a challenging set of trading conditions. That’s why WaiPay is also focussing on traditional retailers - and they’re on board too:

“Yes, I’m one of those shops with the ‘no Paywave’ label on my card reader because I’ve been worried about the cost,” said Masterton’s PaperPlus owner, Warwick Delmonte “but I’m open to the investment in ripping that label off, if it’s going to result in more customers through my doors.

“We want to encourage local people to support local business and we understand that means meeting their needs, not just in stocking the latest products, but also in how they want to pay for them.”

The WaiPay team will prove to retailers that the small cost of contactless payments is worth it. Negotiations with banks and payment providers on behalf of the region’s retailers are underway and will be revealed at the event.

Attendees will also get data on the visitors heading our way right now from Wellington, the rest of New Zealand, Australia, China and beyond - and how they'll expect to pay when they walk through the shop door.

The WaiPay launch event is on Monday 14th October, held in two locations at different times (Carterton and Martinborough).

For more information head to https://www.growwairarapa.nz/the-wai-pay-project

What is WaiPay?

This long term set of initiatives will help regional retailers prosper by providing more ways to pay for both locals and visitors wanting to spend money in Wairarapa. The WaiPay Project has been developed by the Knowledge Intensive Action Group made up of leaders from knowledge intensive businesses around the region, who volunteer their time for free to define and lead projects like WaiPay within the Wairarapa Economic Development Strategy [WEDS].

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