Gucci, an Italian luxury brand to start accepting cryptocurrencies in some of its American stores. Customers can pay with more than 10 currencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. This service will begin by the end of this month at flagship outlets, like Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, New York’s Wooster Street, Miami Design District, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta and The shops at Crystal in Las Vegas.
France Kering, the owner of Gucci, has joined multiple companies that accept virtual currencies.
Consumers that will be paying via cryptocurrency will be sent an email with a QR code to allow them to execute the payment from their crypto wallet. Crypto payments are usually accepted in physical spaces through a QR code or NFC reader that connects with a customer’s smartphone cryptocurrency app. The retailer can then either convert it to US dollars or keep it as a form of cryptocurrency. There is no payment limit, but only store credit refunds are available. However, Gucci is offering a return on cryptocurrency via cryptocurrency.
The company has said that it plans to introduce this policy to all the North American stores directly in the near future. Gucci also provides cryptocurrency and NFT education and training to their staff members.
Gucci is the latest big company that has agreed to accept virtual currencies after Microsoft, US telecoms firm AT&T and Starbucks. In March, Off-white announced accepting virtual currencies in Paris, London and Milan.
Last year, El Salvador and the Central African Republic started using bitcoin as a legal tender beside the US dollar for payment of all transactions.
Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s president and CEO, said, ‘Gucci is always looking to embrace new technologies when they can provide an enhanced experience for our customers. Now that we are able to integrate cryptocurrencies within our payment system, it is a natural evolution for those customers who would like to have this option available to them.’
Luxury brands are increasingly embracing all digital things to attract younger audiences, from blockchain technology to the metaverse.
Earlier this year, Gucci bought a virtual land in the decentralised blockchain game The Sandbox. This brand is building a virtual Gucci vault for Gucci-themed NFT.
Adidas, Nike, Vans and Balenciaga have also entered the digital world and will face competition from brands like Digitallax, Red DAO, DRESSX and Blanksoles.
The cryptocurrency market has experienced a boom even during the pandemic and is still seeing a drastic increase.
