Croatia’s largest supermarket chain, Konzum, has announced that customers can now pay with cryptocurrencies to purchase goods from its online store.
Pay For Groceries With Crypto
The initiative has been undertaken in partnership with Croatian payment processor Paycek, developed by local fintech company Electrocoin. Under the new payment system, which started on December 1, Konzum customers have the option to choose to pay with one of nine different cryptocurrencies on the store’s online retail platform. The cryptocurrencies being accepted on the online store are Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ripple (XRP), Stellar (XLM), Dai (DAI), EOS (EOS), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC).
PayCek Integrates Crypto Payment Service
In order to pay in crypto, customers can scan a QR code after adding their items to the online cart. Soon after, a transaction confirmation will be emailed to the customer, along with an invoice from Konzum. To counter fluctuating crypto prices, PayCek guarantees the buyer a fixed exchange rate at the start of the transaction and provides enough time for successful execution. PayCek is quite experienced in the matter of integrating a cryptocurrency payment module in online stores, as it had previously provided the same service for Croatian e-bike company Greyp Bikes.
The crypto payment option at Konzum is currently limited to online shopping only. However, the conglomerate plans to introduce the service even in their brick-and-mortar stores.
Uroš Kalinić, from the Konzum management team, pointed out that the initiative was an attempt to stay ahead of global trends.
“As the largest retail chain in Croatia, which in its almost 65-year history is a continuous leader in the domestic market in terms of business results and technological achievements, we are proud to be leaders in another area that is rapidly developing and dictating the future.”
Crypto Payments In Retail
Despite a lot of regulatory turmoil, cryptocurrencies are slowly but surely creeping into mainstream retail. For example, California-based, major e-commerce company Newegg had already started accepting BTC as payment back in 2014. Then in early 2021, Newegg started accepting Dogecoin (DOGE) payments, followed soon by Litecoin (LTC). Most recently, the firm has been in the news again, this time for including popular memecoin Shiba Inu (SHIB) on its list of acceptable cryptocurrencies.
Similarly, tech company Nothing also started accepting crypto payments for its wireless earbuds in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), and Dogecoin (DOGE), across countries like the UK, the US, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Japan.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
