With Apple Pay, Apple has created one of the most popular payment services worldwide.
The Sparkassen Group have also opened up to the service - and now activated the long-awaited expansion.
Munich - The Sparkassen girocard can now also shop online.
From now on, users can also use their red plastic card via Apple's popular payment service Apple Pay for online purchases on the web or in apps, the Sparkasse Group announced on Tuesday.
Until now, the Girocard, which has long been known as an EC card, has only been activated via Apple * Pay for contactless payments at supermarket checkouts or in restaurants.
Now users can also shop on the Internet with the Sparkassen-Card and Apple Pay.
With a total of 46 million cards, it is the most widely used means of payment in Germany.
With the e-commerce capability of the digital girocard in Apple Pay, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe "once again underpins its innovation leadership in mobile payment products," said the President of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV), Helmut Schleweis, on Tuesday.
Apple Pay: At the beginning there was skepticism in the Sparkasse warehouse
A good three years ago, the DSGV assessed the situation much more skeptically.
At the start of Apple Pay in Germany in 2018, the savings banks had avoided the service.
It wasn't until 2019 that they offered Apple Pay in conjunction with a credit card.
Last year, the savings banks activated the worldwide popular payment service for their Girocard customers.
The demand for the new service exceeded the Sparkassen Group's expectations.
The start was "one of the most successful product launches" in recent years, announced the Sparkassen Group in the winter.
A total of over 1.5 million customers used the service, it was said at the time.
Sparkassen and Apple Pay: important customers are on board
At the start of the new web function on Tuesday, Flixbus, Lieferano, Bolt and Media Markt, among others, support the Sparkassen Card and Apple Pay for making payments in their apps or online shops. The Münchner Verkehrsbetriebe (MVG) are also on board, it said on Tuesday. Other well-known retailers will follow in the summer with Christ, dm and Cyberport.
* Merkur.de is part of IPPEN.MEDIA.
