Are South African e-commerce stores keeping up with customers' payment appetite?

7 Dec 2022

Emerging payments are all the talk currently in the digital world, and for a good reason. A whopping 95% of all customers have made use of one of the emerging digital payment options available to them in the last year to make an online purchase.

Are South African e-commerce stores keeping up with customers' payment appetite?

Customers have been quick off the mark to start snapping up ways to pay for their online goods, and have relished the variety of options available to them from retailers and e-tailers.

Contactless, cryptocurrency, biometrics, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), open banking and account-to-account payments are flourishing, and expected to simply accelerate over the next few years, offering customers a variety of safe, secure and effortless ways to pay for their goods.

While security is still top of mind for all customers, ease of use (51%) came in a close second and rewards (41%) were also coveted factors for the payment space. Granted, traditional payment options like swiping or inserting are still considered more secure, but most customers are relishing the options that are being made available to them.

But the question stands, are e-commerce stores in South Africa ready to provide the array of options to their customers to keep them happy?

In many cases, especially for start-up companies, having multiple payment options is highly resource intensive. Payment gateways can be costly, security needs to be at the top of the priority list and each option needs to be completely seamless for customers. With all of this to consider for one payment option, having multiple simply means more work and most expense for each company.

So, many ask whether it is worth it having multiple options and if the ROI justifies the spend and resources on payments.

But these challenges can be overcome. Brands all across the country and world are side stepping the hurdles thrown by multiple payment options and providing their customers with the various options they are demanding.

This means a more loyal customer base for the company and higher revenue being generated on a monthly basis. But how are they doing it?

From managing multiple payment channels, to increasing security, opening up communication with the customer and creating seamless operations in the backend, companies are slowly starting to streamline payments.

ECOM AFRICA 2023 aims to help brands streamline their payment processes. E-tailers and e-commerce professionals will be joining together in discussion to share how they have implemented payments in their business, how they manage multiple options and how they ensure security for their customers.

The event will be hosted at the CTICC on 18- 19 April 2023 in Cape Town. Current sponsors include Wordplay from FIS, Skynet, LOR, Neptek and Vector among others. Speakers will be hand selected from a variety of e-commerce powerhouses to share practical case studies on their businesses.

About ECOM Africa

ECOM Africa is organised by VUKA Group (formerly Clarion Events Africa), a leading Cape Town-based and multi-award-winning organiser of exhibitions, conferences and digital events across the continent in the infrastructure, energy, mining, mobility, e-commerce and CX sectors. Other well-known events by VUKA Group include Enlit Africa, Nigeria Mining Week, DRC Mining Week, Smarter Mobility Africa and CEM Africa.ca