The Airfox team is on-site São Paulo, Brazil to launch our strategic partnership with Brazilian retail giant Via Varejo. This new collaboration allows Airfox to extend its mobile digital wallet to Via Varejo’s national customer base and drive mainstream adoption.

This trip’s assignment? Launching the Airfox pilot program in two Casas Bahia stores.

Launching the Airfox retail pilot program

The Airfox team from Boston includes Katie Sedat (VP of marketing), Cathy Melnikow (marketing manager), and Bruna Luniere (user success associate). We join the team members based in Brazil: Gustavo (president of Brazil), Felipe (director of customer success), and engineering (Amauri, Rafel, and Thiago). Together, we are working closely with counterparts at Via Varejo to facilitate a successful launch of the pilot in December.

Airfox and Via Varejo together after a great retail training session.

Eliminating paper payment records

Starting in December, the Airfox app will be offered as the recommended option for customers to manage their carnês, a popular payment method in Brazil where customers split the cost of an item into monthly installments (or parcelas).

Casas Bahia carnês pictured. Customers will be able to pay their Casas Bahia CDC “carnês” bill directly through the Airfox app, instead of going to a physical store. CDCs are in-store loans used to purchase large-ticket items like furniture, electronics, and appliances.

Now, the Airfox app will make this process even easier. Customers will no longer need to save a booklet for each installment. The Airfox app will send reminders for upcoming payments and users can pay monthly installments directly from their Airfox app balance. Customers who don’t have a bank account or credit card will be able to pay their monthly installments anywhere after loading an Airfox app balance using Boleto bancario, a bank account, or cash at 250,000+ locations throughout the country.