Being able to sell online has become a necessity in South Africa. However, the transition from traditional business to e-commerce has, until now, been a process that proved to be a step too far for small business. With many operators not having the knowledge, access to technology or resources needed to build digital trading sites, many business owners have been unable to take their operations to the next level.
Standard Bank has identified several friction points that were hampering their merchants and decided to address them.
The objective was to provide small/family businesses with an online tool that would allow them to benefit from the growing online commerce market in South Africa and compete with large retailers. Knowing that in-house development of a brand new digital service would be very cost– and time–consuming, the bank was on the lookout for an established and trusted product that could be easily integrated and branded as their own.
The solution needed to provide merchants with the ability to:
- Build their own web stores quickly and easily with no IT/coding knowledge
- Securely accept all relevant payment methods, including credit/debit cards and eWallets
- Easily manage all e-commerce operations
- Quickly promote their products via social media channels
