Citing the benefit of making purchases from home during the coronavirus pandemic, China's
The Glovo platform will initially be available to UnionPay cardholders in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy to make purchases and arrange pickups or delivery.
Barcelona-based Glovo operates as an on-demand courier service for customers to purchase items ranging from groceries and restaurant orders to shoes and clothing. The Glovo app is available in more than 200 cities and 26 countries. Local stores make their goods available through the Glovo app.
“As one of the largest bankcard schemes worldwide, we are committed to providing payment ease for our cardholders," Wei Zhihong, UnionPay International's market director and head of Europe, said in a Wednesday press release. "In this difficult time, we are making an extra effort, together with our partners, to offer safer and easier services to support our cardholders in Europe."
UnionPay says acceptance of its cards in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain has grown significantly in the last year through a large number of online and offline merchants.
UnionPay’s cardholder base in these countries includes Chinese consumers living and working in Europe, students from Asian countries, as well as a rapidly increasing domestic customer base among European nationals. Last year, Millennium bcp bank in Portugal became the first in Europe to issue UnionPay cards.
“We are delighted to have reached a new partnership with UnionPay and hope that it represents the beginning of a long-term relationship which will benefit UnionPay card holders throughout France, Italy, Portugal and Spain," Sacha Michaud, co-founder of Glovo, said in the release. "We look forward to working together on further partnerships as we move forward.”
UnionPay has more than 8.4 billion cards issued worldwide and its global network extends to 179 countries and regions, covering more than 52 million merchants and 2.9 million ATMs worldwide.
