Online-Shopping at Swarovski.com with Wirecard

Not just for Christmas: convenient, secure and quick payment

Munich / Grasbrunn, November 19, 2007;
From now on, Swarovski Crystal Online AG offers its customers use of the Wirecard Internet payment service for even safer and more convenient online shopping.

Since the end of the 19th century, the name Swarovski has epitomized the entire world of crystal: its unique cuts and wide spectrum of creations fascinate people across the globe. The Swarovski Online Shop contains a brilliant range of accessories, jewelry and watches along with the “Silver Crystal” range of collectors’ items – available not only for the forthcoming Christmas shopping season but all year round.

Yet especially when Christmas is around the corner, shoppers are loath to wait and appreciate quick delivery. Paying by credit card is the ideal way to shop. Swarovski now recommends an alternative to its customers that is not only quick but also secure: the Internet payment service Wirecard. Behind this system is a virtual prepaid MasterCard that now also enables cautious online shoppers to make convenient payments by credit card.

Katja Ullrich, Finance & Administration Manager at Swarovski Crystal Online AG, emphasizes: “Our products provide the absolute maximum in quality and innovation. Yet this commitment extends far beyond production; we want our customers to experience the Swarovski philosophy closely when shopping, too. We feel, therefore, that Wirecard is the ideal solution for us to open the door to the world of Swarovski especially to those customers who don’t have credit cards. What we found compelling was that no technical effort was involved in integrating a new method of payment.”

Wirecard, a product from Wirecard Bank AG, combines the best of both worlds, namely the functional diversity of an Internet payment service and universal acceptance of credit cards. In doing so, Wirecard enables its users to not only shop at the Swarovski Online Shop but also at all MasterCard acceptance points on the Internet. With accounts always having to be in credit and the use of Mobile TANs or transaction numbers, Wirecard provides a convenient security concept.

“Wirecard allows Swarovski, to accept payments by cash in advance or local direct debit through their existing MasterCard acceptance. In doing so, Wirecard helps Swarovski to open up new geographical markets and new target groups”, says Christa Wagner, Head of Key Account Management Retail Services at Wirecard AG, in explaining additional benefits of the product.

http://webserver9.wirecard.com/fileadmin/downloads/press_release/en_071119.pdf

Wirecard is extremely easy to integrate into the Online Shop. Unlike with other providers, Swarovski does not need to enter into an additional agreement with the Wirecard Bank or to integrate the payment service in technical terms. All that is necessary is that the Wirecard logo should be included on the payment site, with a link referring consumers to www.mywirecard.com.



Wirecard PR&IR Office
Iris Stöckl
Bretonischer Ring 4
D-85630 Grasbrunn
Tel. : +49 (0) 89 4424 0424
Fax: +49 (0) 89 4424 0524
E-Mail: iris.stoeckl@wirecard.com
Internet: www.wirecard.com

Swarovski PR Office Deutschland:
Nicole Koropp
Tel. : +49 (0) 8341 970 178
E-Mail: nicole.koropp@swarovski.com
Internet: www.swarovski.com

About Wirecard AG:
Wirecard AG is one of the leading international providers of electronic payment and risk management solutions. Worldwide, Wirecard supports over 7,000 companies from many and various industry segments in automating their payment processes and minimizing cases of default. Wirecard Bank AG provides account and credit card services both for business and private customers and is a Principal Member of VISA, MasterCard and JCB. The Internet payment service Wirecard enables consumers to make secure payments at millions of MasterCard acceptance outlets worldwide. In addition, registered users can send or receive money orders to each other on a real-time basis. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI).

About Swarovski:
112 years ago, in 1895, Daniel Swarovski I, a Bohemian inventor and visionary, moved to the village of Wattens, Tyrol in Austria, with his newly-invented machine for cutting and polishing crystal jewellery stones. From these beginnings, which revolutionised the fashion world, SWAROVSKI has grown to be the world’s leading producer of precision-cut crystal, for fashion, jewellery and more recently lighting, architecture and interiors. Today, the company, still based in Wattens, family-owned and run by 4th and 5th generation family members, has a global reach, with some 20,000 employees, a presence in over 120 countries and a turnover in 2006 of 2,37 billion Euros. SWAROVSKI comprises two major divisions, one producing and selling loose crystals to the industry and the other creating design-driven finished products. Swarovski crystal components, known by their product brand names CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements for fashion and STRASS® Swarovski® Crystal for architecture and light, have become an essential ingredient of international design. Showing the creativity that lies at the heart of the company, SWAROVSKI’s own-brand lines of accessories, jewellery and home décor are sold through more than 1150 SWAROVSKI stores and concessions in all major fashion capitals, while the exclusive Daniel Swarovski accessories collection has become the company’s Couture signature. The Swarovski Crystal Society has close to 400,000 members worldwide, keen collectors of the celebrated crystal figurines. And in Wattens, Crystal Worlds, the multi-media crystal museum, has attracted over 7 million visitors since it was opened in 1995, as a celebration of SWAROVSKI’s universe of innovation and inspiration, of crystal as the ultimate creative material. The SWAROVSKI corporation also includes four industrial brands, Tyrolit®, manufacturing grinding tools, Swareflex, for road safety reflectors, Optik, producing precision optical instruments and Signity, SWAROVSKI’s brand for genuine and created gemstones. Illuminating Fashion and Culture, Home and Leisure 
www.swarovski.com