Worldline launches a virtual showroom in the Metaverse

The payment services company Worldline will be one of the first payment companies to enter the Metaverse. It will launch a virtual showroom dedicated to its merchants, which will allow them to open their own white label shop and use Worldline's payment services. The aim of this new showroom is to bridge the gap between the virtual world network and the real world for e-commerce companies.

FACTS

• French company Worldline has announced the public launch of one of the first virtual showrooms operated by a payment company.

• The Worldline Métavers showroom went live in March and is located in Decentraland, in an area called Crypto Valley. It is organised around events:

  • a "merchant of the month" area, placed in the heart of the Worldline virtual terrain, presenting a merchant with a new product. The product can then be purchased directly via the Worldline payment engine.

  • A café area powered by Payone, Worldline's joint venture with Germany's Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (DSV), the leading merchant services provider in Germany and Austria. This space will encourage social interaction and informal meetings between users, Worldline representatives and merchants.

  • A virtual stage for events with space to host virtual product presentations and share knowledge with Decentraland users.

  • the possibility to support charitable projects, starting with support for Ukraine through well-known charities. Social responsibility is at the heart of Worldline's concerns, hence the importance of helping those in need.

CHALLENGES

• Seizing an opportunity after e-commerce: The metaverse (and Web3 as a whole) is undoubtedly the next step in the development of the Internet. For Worldline, facilitating access to its merchant base and customers and providing a secure and transparent payment process in the Metaverse is an unavoidable opportunity. After the e-commerce revolution, Worldline wants to accompany this new revolution and help its merchants to position themselves to encourage the development of the commercial side of the metaverse.

• Reconciling virtual and real payment: Customers who do not hold crypto-currencies can make purchases from companies that use them for transactions. With the solution developed by Worldline and its crypto processing partner Bitcoin Switzerland, merchants can accept payments in Bitcoin or Ether as easily as any other traditional payment option.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• With the divestment of its terminal business inherited from the Ingenico acquisition, the group's strategic direction is to make Worldline a leading international Paytech. To achieve this, the company is banking on its positioning with merchants and banks as a single point of entry to the payment ecosystem.

• The investment bank JPMorgan unveiled a showcase in Decentraland last February. Its aim is to be forward-thinking and to position itself as a forerunner in anticipating potential business opportunities.

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