09 Mar Corona Virus and How it Might Impact eCommerce and Online Sales and Payment Across Africa
I can’t believe, as an online payments purist, that I have succumbed to talking about Corona virus but, as you probably have gathered by now, we are passionate about helping our multinational eCommerce companies get paid across Africa and interested in anything that affects it directly. Corona has kindly taken its time to get to Africa. The arrival is inevitable and I thought we could be prepared and think through the effects based on experiences elsewhere in the world. A great article (that I read recently that for the life of me I can’t find so I can reference its genius) on the impact on the Australian environment, being in close proximity to the source, gives us an idea of future scenarios and impacts on eCommerce and payment across Africa. First of all on the advice of the articles I have asked my wife to stock up on toilet paper, buy us some hand sanitiser before they sell out and I’ve tried to stop touching my face with my hands. Personal effects aside, there has has been a significant impact on eCommerce and online payments in Aus. Nielsen has found significant spikes in the purchase of basic and non perishable food supplies ie groceries with a recent increase of 45% in online purchases as compared to last year. My personal experience is a significant curbing of travel in terms of conferences, rugby games, postponed weddings, and general restriction of business travel. We even had a cancellation of local guest speakers at a conference I am attending this week as company policy disallows workers to be in populous places with international citizens. Combine this with the increasing remote working ethic around the world and people staying at home to work, and we have a big motivation to do online purchases and home delivery of groceries, electronic goods and “Uber Eats”. I’m not a doctor , but my opinion is that the show is not over yet, and until a vaccine is produced and widely distributed, it seems like Corona is going to spread rapidly and become a bit like how we live with the flu these days. Until we get used to it, let’s enjoy the acceleration of remote working, home entertainment, and the catalysed growth in eCommerce and online sales and deliveries. If you are looking to work with experts on online payment at the checkout across Africa, click here to get in touch with us. Our thanks for inspiration to whoever wrote the great article I read this past week - forgive me for not being able to locate it despite some good google searching. Our services include:
