Woonivers, a fintech app start-up, has won the “Best Tax-Free Shopping App, Belgium” and “Best Tax-Free Shopping App, Spain” awards for the year 2021. The felicitation ceremony will be held at the Palm Jumeirah – Waldorf Astoria in early 2022 in Dubai.
The Global Brand Awards is an annual event held by Global Brands Magazine (GBM), an international publication headquartered in the UK. The award aims to recognise global brands achieving excellence in performance across a broad range of sectors while keeping its readers updated on the branding world’s key trends. Woonivers was evaluated based on customer service, satisfaction, digital innovation, strategic relationships and new business development.
Commenting on Woonivers winning the awards, ShivKumar (CEO) of Global Brands magazine said, “It was a tough call, but Woonivers deservedly receives not one, but two awards for being the best tax-free shopping app—a remarkable achievement. Until Woonivers, claiming tax rebates in foreign countries was an arduous process and one that put off many tourists from making purchases abroad in the first place. Woonivers has not only identified this pain point but solved it in such an astonishing efficient manner that it’s only a matter of time before this catches on in other countries.”
Commenting on winning the award, Antonio Cantalapiedra (co-founder) of Woonivers said, “Woonivers is beyond thrilled with this recognition. As e-commerce has grown exponentially, so have the challenges of delivering a smooth and efficient consumer experience. Top companies, the world over, have focused their energies and resources on improving the ‘purchase journeys’, digitising their in-store experiences, linking with social media sites, improving their platform performance, providing wider payment options, speeding up the checkout process, etc. One area which has not received the appropriate level of attention till the arrival of Woonivers has been the returns and refunds experience. Before Woonivers, there was unnecessary consumer anxiety, a wasted opp for brands, poor feedback, etc. I truly believe that managing the post-sale experience, especially “tax-free“ refunds instantly and proactively that the consumer finds palatable has a direct impact on engagement, future sales, customer loyalty, etc.”
Commenting on winning the award, Abel Navajas (co-founder) of Woonivers said,” Today’s society, and therefore travellers, demand agile and immediate solutions, and the Woonivers app, born in Spain, which has been operating in Belgium since 2021 – the country in which we have started our European expansion turns an initial project only of digital validation of the VAT refund status into a unique experience for the traveller, earning money as they shop on their holidays with a mobile-only service.
The traveller wants time to enjoy their holiday, not to waste it in complex, complicated refund processes and with too many bureaucratic steps as used to happen until our arrival. At Woonivers, experience is the most important thing, and we put the customer at the centre of the service as new technology companies such as Uber, Deliveroo or Amazon do. With Woonivers, everyone wins, travellers, shops and states, and in 2021 mainly the Brits, who will be able to do their Christmas shopping in Europe receiving money, isn’t it amazing?”
