OmbuShop has announced a new partnership that will allow 2,000 merchants in Latin America to add bitcoin as a payment option for their online stores.
Founded in 2011, the e-commerce website provider primarily caters to clothing and accessory merchants. OmbuShop is based in Argentina, but serves Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Spain.
Speaking to CoinDesk, OmbuShop CEO Ernesto Tagwerker described the service as one way his company is looking to embrace the future of online shopping while enabling its international merchants to sell more effectively in a global economy.
Tagwerker told:
“We see in bitcoin a great medium to get paid from clients all over the world. Now, Argentine shops can sell to the US and all over the world without having to worry how to get paid.”
Tagwerker added that bitcoin will provide his merchants with a key advantage given that payment gateways in Argentina are less evolved than popular international options such as PayPal and Stripe. Notably, under an amendment passed in 2012, Argentinian consumers are barred from using PayPal.
OmbuShop has raised more than $40,000 in funding to date, netting the capital from Start-Up Chile, a Chilean government-backed investment fund aimed at attracting high-potential entrepreneurs to Chile.
To launch bitcoin payments, OmbuShop partnered with Argentina-based bitcoin merchant processor BitPagos.
‘Argentina’s Shopify’
Speaking to CoinDesk, BitPagos CEO Sebastian Serrano described OmbuShop as Argentina’s homegrown version of Shopify, the online marketplace that allows merchants to set up their own websites through its service.
Like Shopify, OmbuShop lets merchants set up online storefronts by registering with the website, uploading products and customizing their design.
OmbuShop offers a free 15-day trial of its services, while Shopify offers a 14-day no-risk trial.
SOURCE: coindesk.com
