Samsung Pay adds online and in-app purchases, expands to new countries

A year after launching, Samsung Pay makes a big expansion to new countries and platforms.

After growing its base of compatible banks and credit unions to over 500, Samsung is now targeting an expansion of Samsung Pay starting with the addition of Malaysia, Russia and Thailand — bringing the service to 10 countries in total. Further, Samsung has inked a deal with Mastercard to integrate Samsung Pay with its Masterpass online payment service.

This new partnership with Mastercard brings Samsung Pay from just physical sales to the online payment realm, something that it has trialed previously in South Korea. With the Masterpass integration, Samsung Pay users can use their Mastercard payment methods stored in Samsung Pay, along with personal information like shipping addresses, to make purchases seamlessly with any online retailer that already integrates with Masterpass — no additional account information or signup required.

Interestingly, this integration with Masterpass comes just a day after Google announced that Android Pay would have the exact same integration for online payments. Google also managed to on-up things with the same sort of arrangement in partnership with Visa Checkout for online sales, covering even more potential customer cards.

Samsung and Google are doing battle in the mobile payments space.

Going head-to-head with Android Pay in another way, Samsung Pay is also expanding to in-app purchases starting in the U.S. this year. With updates to the Samsung Pay app, you'll soon be able to quickly make payments inside supported apps using your payment information stored within Samsung Pay — this will first appear in the Velocity, Raise, Fancy, Hello Vino, Wish and Touch of Modern apps, with even more to come in the future.

Samsung Pay's app improvements also go a step further with the inclusion of a nearby deal tracker that shows you which retailers partner with Samsung to give you discounts for shopping there. Discounts are instantly redeemable if you pay with Samsung Pay in the store.

With support from banks reaching the point where Samsung Pay supports 85% of all cards in the U.S., it was important for Samsung to move on to launching its service into new markets. Samsung is already the clear leader in terms of physical store presence with its exclusive MST technology, and it was only a matter of time before it finally jumped into the online and in-app payment arena as well. How well it partners with websites and app makers going forward will make all the difference in this expansion.

Press release:

Samsung Pay to Add Three New Countries, Online and In-App Payments, Location-Based Deals and more

One Year after Launching, Samsung Pay expanding to online payments and three new markets while also adding further digital wallet features

LAS VEGAS – October 25, 2016 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today announced Samsung Pay will add three new countries to the roadmap including Malaysia, Russia and Thailand, which will bring the convenience of the service to 10 countries by the end of 2016. Samsung Pay also announced a global partnership with Mastercard to offer a simplified online payment and express checkout solution through its digital payment service Masterpass, starting early next year. Hundreds of thousands of merchants in 33 countries currently accept Masterpass for online payments.

"When we introduced online payments in South Korea last year, the service was well received by the market. Online payments accounted for more than 25 percent of the 2 trillion won in processed transactions, demonstrating that consumers may be actively looking for solutions to make their online experiences faster, simpler and secure," said Thomas Ko, VP and Global GM, Samsung Pay, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. "By partnering with Masterpass in the U.S. and rolling out online payments globally, we will simplify the online transaction experience by eliminating the need for customers to fill out tedious online checkout forms, remember long passwords or fumble for their wallets."

"Mastercard is working to ensure that every one of our accounts is as digital as the people using them," said Garry Lyons, Chief Innovation Officer at Mastercard. "Enabling our cardholders to use Samsung Pay to shop online via Masterpass is the latest example of our work – alongside our banks, merchants and digital partners – to deliver rich, innovative, compelling and secure ways to pay and get paid across all channels and devices, redefining commerce globally."

Samsung Pay will provide consumers with a seamless online payment platform with benefits including:

• Express Checkout: Skip the process of filling out long online forms. With the express checkout solution, customers will be able use their Mastercard debit or credit cards along with the shipping information saved on their Samsung Pay account to quickly complete online transactions.

• Make Purchases from Any Device: Customers can make online purchases from a computer, tablet or smartphone while shopping on their favorite sites or apps.

• Secure Transactions: Security remains our top priority. When making online payments, a unique token is used in an encrypted form – not the actual debit or credit card number. Users can authenticate transactions using secure methods including a fingerprint scanner, which is built into Samsung's mobile devices.

• Samsung Pay also announced new features in the United States, including support for in-app payments and new nearby discounts and savings, marking one more step toward a true digital wallet. The announcements came at Money 20/20, a leading payments and financial services event.

Access to Deals at Nearby Stores:

Beginning in November, Samsung Pay users will be able to locate discounts and coupons for nearby stores and restaurants through the new Deals feature within the Samsung Pay app, and redeem these deals instantly. With a new refreshed look, and enhancements to user experience and design on the Samsung Pay app, users will be able to find and redeem instant savings easily and quickly.

New In-App Payments:

In November, users will also be able to use Samsung Pay as their payment option when they shop at select merchant apps. Simply select Samsung Pay during check-out, and select from the cards loaded within the app to make an in-app payment. To start, in-app payments will be available for Samsung Pay users when they shop with Velocity, Raise, Fancy, Hello Vino, Wish and Touch of Modern, with more to come.

Partnership Ecosystem:

With the addition of its latest financial partners Capital One and USAA, Samsung Pay now supports over 500 banks and credit unions, representing over 85 percent of the U.S. debit card and credit card market.