iZettle teams with Stuart for remote payments, delivery in U.K. during coronavirus lockdown

PayPal subsidiary iZettle is working with U.K. urban delivery platform Stuart to offer small businesses remote payment and delivery services during the coronavirus crisis.

Stuart and iZettle have teamed up to help small businesses in more than 20 cities across the U.K. deliver goods to customers remotely and get paid digitally. The partnership is targeting merchants that do not have an e-commerce site or a presence on a third-party marketplace such as many butchers, bakeries and fishmongers.

The collaboration will allow the small businesses to accept orders over the phone, online and through social channels. The merchants can then log onto the Stuart platform to arrange for a courier to deliver the items within a matter of hours. The payment is collected by iZettle, using its alternative payment method called Payment Links. This generates a one-time link that the merchant can send via text, WhatsApp, social media or email allowing them to pay by card.

“Coming together as an industry and collaborating is more important now than ever and we’re thrilled to partner with Stuart to help our merchants access the essential tools they need," said Jacob de Geer, co-founder of iZettle, in a press release. "We want to help our community adapt to this new reality and sell remotely."

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In a promotional effort to spur usage, the companies are offering the first 100 U.K. merchants to use the combined remote delivery and payment solutions a £10 discount off their first courier booking. Additionally, iZettle has temporarily lowered fees for its online payments through May 31, 2020.

The joint collaboration between iZettle and Stuart is a follow-up effort to a similar rollout of remote delivery and payment services in France that was backed by the country’s Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, according to Stuart.

Stuart was launched in February 2015 to offer an urban on-demand delivery platform connecting retailers and restaurants with couriers operating in over 100 cities across the U.K., France and Spain. It has more than 3,500 clients and 300 employees, excluding couriers, as they operate as independent contractors. In 2017 GeoPost, a subsidiary of French Group La Poste, acquired Stuart in a bid to expand its European delivery services.

The iZettle and Stuart partnership is live in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds, Leicester and 16 other U.K. cities.

In 2018 PayPal bought iZettle, notwithstanding significant pressure from the U.K.’s Competition and Market Authority. While the deal did ultimately close in 2018, PayPal was eventually fined £250,000 (about $310,000) by the U.K. regulator for breaching rules over cross-selling to U.K. customers.