South Africa’s most comprehensive, independent payment gateway, Peach Payments, has delivered a number of initiatives aimed at supporting their small-to-medium (SME) ecommerce customers in order to increase their sales.

Their latest initiative saw selected SME survey respondents offer paid advertising to boost their visibility over Black Friday. Another saw the payment gateway arrange a photo shoot using leading technology from photo studio, Enhance Retail, to ensure quality product shots that their winning SME merchants can use on their platforms.

eCommerce as an SA game changer

“Earlier this year and just after lockdown, we saw a sudden uptake in small businesses launching online. Our initial figures showed a 400% increase in March as compared to the previous year and we continue to see that level of growth from March to October when compared to the same period last year,” says Co-Founder Rahul Jain.

Coupled with the surge in online sales in South Africa over the lockdown period, Jain says that the figures indicate “an unprecedented opportunity for SMEs to really become powerful players in the economy”.

Tools to make a real sales difference over the busiest eCommerce period of the year

“It is important to us that we put ourselves in our merchant’s shoes and ask how we could really make a difference in providing something they need.” Jain said.

Anticipating the potential for increased sales for their merchants over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the team decided to give competition winners – drawn from their survey respondents – the opportunity to advertise their products in MyBroadband — a popular business and technology publication –– while others were provided the opportunity to photograph their products.

“Allowing our merchants to promote their products achieved one goal for them, but they were also invaluable in providing other e-commerce SMEs – and anyone thinking of starting a business online – with experience, advice and guidance. We’re sure that they won’t only increase their sales, but also inspire other SMEs to take that first step into e-commerce,” says Josh Shimkin, Head of Marketing at Peach Payments.

Buying visually

With research showing that 90% of online buyers rate photo quality as the most important factor in an online sale, small businesses need to ensure they have imagery that will entice buyers and showcase their products.

“We know that every merchant needs great photos. It’s what customers see first and it’s what they are going to click first. When you have great photography, that’s only going to inspire trust with your customers. Our winning merchants now have great photos they can use to promote their products on social media and online, which hopefully translates into great sales for them,” Shimkin says.

Other Peach initiatives to understand and guide SMEs – both clients and in general – have included webinars; advice content; and interviews.

Internationally competitive and locally supported

Jain says that these initiatives have provided some valuable insight into the challenges and successes our merchants experience. “One of the most notable responses has been that e-commerce merchants need a payment gateway that offers them local service and solid support but is also able to match the functionality that international ecommerce players have access to.

“Peach is proud that as a local payment gateway, we’re close enough to our customers to offer the support they need but also innovative enough to match and at times, surpass, what international ecommerce merchants have access to,” he says.

Learn how Peach Payments is helping small businesses at info.peachpayments.com/black-friday-2020.<\/p>