Date: 12. November 2024
While the largest European Countries trying to become independent from US-American payment schemes and products by introducing Wero, Austria’s Österreichische Post AG has made a move forward by introducing: PostPay, a truly European payment method.
This product aims to be more than a simple payment solution; it’s a complete, customizable tool for consumers and businesses alike to accept payments.
What is it?
PostPay is Österreichische Post’s answer to the call for a flexible, local alternative to global payment solutions. It is in essence a further development of the classic cash-on-delivery service. Designed primarily to offer a user-friendly, all-in-one payment experience, PostPay provides various features:
- Easy Registration: A simplified setup that allows customers to quickly join with minimal verification steps, focusing on accessibility.
- One Account, Multiple Features: From direct bank transfers to QR code payments, PostPay consolidates various financial services into a single, streamlined platform.
- In-App Spending Insights: PostPay aims to offer customers detailed spending summaries and analytics, which is becoming an expected feature among the leading payment platforms.
- Several Payment Options: Upon completion of the order, customers can select to pay with different payment options or also in cash.
By focusing on security, transparency, and user empowerment, PostPay is positioned as a flexible and future-proof solution in Austria’s payment landscape.
Why it works?
- Customer Access: The Austrian Post is the national logistics system delivering 4bn letters and advertisements per anno to about every Austrian citizen. Because of this customer connection, an incredible value of data is provided allowing an easy credit decision for payments.
- Market Reach: PostPay is a further development of the widely accepted classic cash-on-delivery service. With shoepping.at the largest marketplace is part of Austrian Post and can introduce this payment method to the whole country as an integrated payment solution.
- Regulatory Framework: As the Austrian Post owns bank99, the Post has the regulatory framework to establish such products with existing tools and also in compliance with DORA regulations.
- Low competition: for the leading international payment schemes the Austrian market is too small for specific solutions allowing local and quick-acting players, e.g. PostPay, to gain market shares fast.
What is the potential?
- Due to the existing setup (single shareholder, clear focus, E-commerce as start), PostPay is an exciting addition to the Austrian payment industry, filling a gap that’s been left open by larger, international players who don’t always tailor their offerings to the unique needs of smaller markets.
- Based on our research it will be possible, that PostPay will rank among the top three payment methods in Austria competing with PayPal and Klarna in this market.
- If you think about this further and consider additional assets, e.g. support of POS (Point of Sale) or expansion of PostPay into the different international subsidiaries, e.g. Serbia, Hungary, and Turkey, then the Austrian Post could complete its value chain by an international payment method.
What is the risk?
- The Austrian Post is not the first initiative started by fulfillment companies. Companies such as Deutsche Post established a similar system but stopped it in 2018.
- In parallel German and French companies trying to set up a European payment system but struggle with managing all shareholder interests.
- If the Austrian Post can learn from such challenges, the future is wide open.
DINAPE’s Conclusion: A Promising Start with Room for Growth
Overall, PostPay is a bold step by Österreichische Post towards meeting Austria’s demand for a localized, secure, and intuitive payment solution. For Austrian businesses and consumers, PostPay has the potential to be more than just a transactional tool; it could become a central part of their financial ecosystem if it can remain adaptable and competitive.
However, to fully realize this potential, PostPay must focus on continual innovation and flexibility, incorporating cutting-edge payment technologies and expanding its user base beyond early adopters. We are optimistic about PostPay’s role in the Austrian market and will be closely watching its evolution as it attempts to carve out its place among global and regional payment solutions.
In an industry that is continuously evolving, DINAPE believes that PostPay represents a promising new path in Austria’s financial landscape — one that could potentially become a model for other countries with similar market dynamics.
About DINAPE
At DINAPE we support Corporates, Payment Service Providers and Online Marketplaces with Software development, professional services and Consulting solutions. We believe in European solutions to overcome global dependencies and in advanced technologies.
