VISA
1.3.2021 10:02:12 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Visa (NYSE: V) today announced more than 100 partners across Europe have joined the Where You Shop Matters initiative to help small business owners build digital capabilities and continue serving their communities.
More than two million small firms across Europe have received support since the launch of the program in summer 2020. The announcement marks a major milestone in Visa’s commitment to help eight million small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) in Europe – and 50 million globally - to get online, adapt and future proof their business.
Across Europe, Covid-19 continues to have a devastating impact on small businesses. Research conducted by Visa revealed that 65% of small businesses are concerned about the future of their business.1 With many having to operate under restrictions and lockdowns, small businesses are increasingly moving their operations online and embracing digital payments. Visa data shows that over 10 countries in Europe have seen a 20% increase in online sales and eight in ten transactions are now contactless.
Hemlata Narasimhan, SVP, Merchant Sales and Acquiring Europe at Visa said: “Small businesses play a crucial role in our communities and many continue to operate under challenging conditions brought on by Covid-19. We continue to be inspired by the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit many small business owners have shown, adapting how they do business to keep serving their customers.
"We are proud that over two million small businesses have been able to benefit from our partner initiatives. We remain committed to continue working with our clients and partners towards an economic recovery that keeps small businesses at the heart of our communities.”
Since announcing its commitment to support eight million small businesses across Europe in their digital transformation journey, Visa has joined forces with banks, governments, commerce platforms and technology partners to digitally enable small businesses. Highlights include:
- Public Private Partnerships: In the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, Visa is working with governments to provide small business access to contactless acceptance terminals and software free of charge for the first 12 months. Governments in 29 countries have responded and raised the contactless limit to make it easier to for consumers to pay touch free.
- New acceptance technology: ‘Tap-to-Phone’, a new Visa technology that transforms mobile devices into payment terminals, is helping thousands of small business owners to accept digital payments in the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia Turkey, Ukraine and the UK.
- New online tools: Setting up a business online can be a daunting task. Visa is working with online platforms and digital marketplaces so that small stores can set up an online presence with minimal cost and hassle. These programmes have been launched in several countries across Europe supporting thousands of local businesses. Visa has also expanded its Practical Business Skills platform, a global digital platform delivering free education resources to help small and micro business (SMB) owners make confident, informed decisions to grow their businesses through expanded digital transformation.
- New banking tools: Small firms are also turning to digital banking tools to help manage their finances during a critical time for their business. In partnership with banks and FinTechs across Europe, Visa has over 30 new business card programmes that help small firms better manage their cashflow and purchasing, while offering access to innovative, new business banking tools.
- Community Engagement: Visa has expanded its Where You Shop Matters campaign, calling on consumers to shop locally and support small businesses in their communities. Examples of local campaigns to galvanise support for local shops include Champion Green (Ireland), Smart SME (Turkey) and Fiver Fest (UK).
Over 100 programmes have launched supported by industry partners including Alpha Bank, Akbank, Axerve, Banca Sella, Banco Santander, BeeDigital, CEC Bank, the Co-Operative bank, Clickandcollection.com, Fiserv, Fruugo, iCard- myPOS, Israel Credit Cards, Juni, National Bank of Greece, Tyl by NatWest, Nexi, Orderbird, Oma Savings Bank Plc, Payplug, Piraeus Bank, ShopAppy.com, Shopify, Viva Wallet, WorldLine amongst others. These initiatives have helped provide more than two million small firms with the tools, capabilities and resources to adapt, trade online and meet consumer demand for digital payments.
“Banca Sella is actively committed in supporting SMBs in their digital journey, offering smart and effective solutions to allow them to scale their business to the next level thanks to digital payments,” said Rosy Alaia, Head of Electronic Payment Systems, Banca Sella . “During the current pandemic we’ve seen a strong shift towards digital payments but is still plenty of opportunities for Italian small merchants to further improve their digital acceptance, matching new consumer trends and expectations of smart and alternative way to pay. We believe we can achieve this objective also thanks to the collaboration with partners like Visa.”
“Fiserv enables payments for millions of businesses across a wide range of sectors in Europe and globally, and we have seen firsthand how the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled small businesses to seek out technology that enables them to operate in new, more digital ways,” states Nigel Motyer, senior vice president of Global Business Solutions for Fiserv in EMEA . “Payments are an integral part of any small business, and we’re proud to partner with companies like VISA to equip businesses to meet customers’ demands for secure and convenient digital payment options.”
“For Worldline, specific customer insight and solid partnerships are key elements that ensure we continuously bring relevance and value to our merchants”, says Roger Niederer, Chief Market Officer Merchant Services at Worldline. “Together with strategic partners, such as Visa, we can broaden and deepen the reach of electronic payments in a variety of markets and verticals, work on future-oriented omni-channel solutions and help increase the conversion of sales.”
Positive start but more work to be done
With many economies in Europe beginning 2021 with further restrictions, Visa is enlisting the help of its network and calling on more partners to support its initiatives aimed at supporting small businesses with the aim of digitizing millions of small firms in this crucial period for recovery.
For more information, please visit https://www.visa.co.uk/where-you-shop-matters.html
About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device, for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa , visa.com/blog and @VisaNews .
1 Visa European SME Research in partnership with Dynata (January 2021)
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210301005196/en/
Link:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Garvan Institute of Medical Research Joins Parse Biosciences’ Certified Service Provider Network15.7.2026 22:00:00 CEST | Press release
Researchers across Asia-Pacific gain a new option for high-quality single cell sequencing through Garvan's Evercode WT services Parse Biosciences, a QIAGEN company, and the leader in scalable and accessible single cell sequencing, today announced that the Genomics Platform Core Facility within the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has joined its Certified Service Provider (CSP) Program. The partnership broadens access to high-quality, scalable single cell sequencing across Australia, the wider Asia-Pacific region, and beyond. Garvan is one of Australia's preeminent medical research institutions, with the Genomics Platform having deep experience in cell sorting, capture, and sequencing. As a Certified Service Provider, Garvan will offer Parse's Evercode WT kits to researchers across the region. "We see a growing number of requests for Parse projects and find the technology easy to implement and run, generating great data," said Chris O'Keeffe, Cellular Genomics Lead at the Garvan Ins
Grafana Labs Named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms and Positioned Furthest in Completeness of Vision15.7.2026 20:21:00 CEST | Press release
Named a Leader for the third consecutive year and placed furthest in vision for the second year in a row, the company has had a landmark year of innovation as observability becomes essential infrastructure for teams building and running AI at scale. Grafana Labs, the company behind the open observability cloud, today announced it has been named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms for the third consecutive year, and positioned furthest on the Completeness of Vision axis for the second year running. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260715814984/en/ 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms We believe this placement reflects where the market is headed: toward open, composable observability that helps teams in the AI era understand systems that are increasingly complex and agentic, and rapidly scaling thanks to AI-assisted engineering. A Platform Built for the AI Era
Spectro Cloud Raises $100 Million Series D to Help Customers Move AI Infrastructure Into Production Across Enterprise, Public Sector, Neocloud and Sovereign Cloud Environments15.7.2026 18:20:00 CEST | Press release
Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives leads oversubscribed round with strategic participation from AMD Ventures, Ericsson, LG Technology Ventures, and Maximus as organizations look to turn AI silicon into business outcomes Spectro Cloud, a leading provider of AI infrastructure management software, today announced it has raised more than $100 million in an oversubscribed Series D funding round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with strategic participation from AMD Ventures, Ericsson, LG Technology Ventures, and Maximus. The new funding brings Spectro Cloud’s total capital raised to $260 million and will accelerate the company’s mission to help enterprises, public sector organizations, neoclouds and sovereign clouds build and operate production AI infrastructure with greater control over cost, security and governance. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260715551858/en/ Spectro Cloud raises $
K-Beauty Goes Global: Sales Surge 53% as Korean Innovation Reshapes Beauty Growth15.7.2026 16:00:00 CEST | Press release
New NIQ data shows K-Beauty value sales rose 53% year-over-year and 131% over two years, underscoring how regional beauty trends, social commerce and ingredient-led innovation are reshaping global beauty growth. NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a global leader in consumer intelligence, today released new findings showing K-Beauty has become a rapidly growing global beauty segment, with value sales up 53% year-over-year and 131% over the past two years. The data points to a broader shift in beauty growth, as regional innovation, social commerce and digitally driven consumer demand increasingly shape what scales globally. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260715867578/en/ K-Beauty accelerates across global markets In its latest report, K-Beauty Goes Global, NIQ shows how Korean beauty is reshaping consumer expectations, accelerating innovation cycles and redefining competitive dynamics across the global beauty market. What began
Viz.ai to Support the MINUTE Trial, a Landmark Multicenter Study Evaluating the SCUBA Technique for the Treatment of Intracerebral Hemorrhage15.7.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Viz Neuro™ Suite, including Viz ICH™ and Viz ICH Plus™, to facilitate rapid detection and care coordination for patients with basal ganglia hemorrhage across trial sites nationwide. Viz.ai, the leader in AI-powered disease detection and intelligent care coordination, today announced its support for the Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery Trial for Ultra-early Treatment (MINUTE) Trial, a prospective, multicenter, randomized study evaluating whether the SCUBA technique, an endoscopic, catheter-based approach for ultra-early evacuation of basal ganglia intracerebral hemorrhage (BGH), is a promising alternative to standard medical management to potentially improve functional patient outcomes. The study aims to initiate both randomization and surgical intervention within 120 minutes of key clinical time points, reflecting the urgent nature of intracerebral hemorrhage care. Participating sites will have the ability to leverage the Viz Neuro Suite platform, including Viz ICH and Viz ICH Plus, to
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom