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MOSCOW, Jun 27 (PRIME) -- Popular Russian social network VKontakte, a unit of Internet company Mail.Ru Group, is launching on Wednesday its payment platform VK Pay, which will be integrated into the network and could be turned into a marketplace with an annual turnover of 100 billion rubles, RBC Daily reported on Wednesday.
Users will be able to pay for goods and services via their VKontakte account without a fee, a social network spokesperson told the daily.
Integration will have several stages: at first, VK Pay will take payments from owners of all communities of the social network representing small and medium-sized businesses and using social networks as the main channel of goods promotion.
At the same time, VKontakte will start developing its marketplace, where its partners, including air and railway ticket seller OneTwoTrip, entertainment ticket sellers Kassir.ru and ShowGoGo, and food delivery services Grow Food and Delivery Club, will offer their services.
Payments via VK Pay will be later integrated into websites of partners, which could offer special terms for VKontakte users, but unavailable for others.
Gazprombank became the social network’s partner. “The joint projects the fulfilment of which we plan are aimed at offering of products and services in the digital environment on the basis of completely different approaches, imposed by the fast changing market of financial services and growing needs of users,” Deputy Management Board Chairman Dmitry Zauers said, as quoted into the network’s statement.
VKontakte Managing Director Andrei Rogozov said that VK Pay is an important stage for a final shaping of a large-scale eco-system of e-commerce. “Combination of communication and payment options will turn VKontakte into the largest floor for online trade in Russia,” he said.
Users will be able to make purchases and pay for services both in a special section of VKontakte and on websites of VK Pay’s partners. The whole audience of the social network will receive access to the pay service.
“Keeping in mind the audience of VKontakte and its readiness to purchase, we may speak about the market volume of 100 billion rubles in the next few years,” Mail.Ru Group Strategy Director Alexander Gorny said.
(62.7908 rubles – U.S. $1)
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