African digital payments company, DPO Group, has launched an e-commerce store that is powered by Mastercard’s payments gateway technology. Through this platform, DPO hopes merchants across Africa will be able to swiftly move their businesses online and continue to trade with their customers.
The end to end e-commerce solution, called the ‘DPO Store’, is available in the 19 countries in which DPO operates. Initially targeted at essential services such as supermarkets, food stores, pharmacies and chemists, merchants are provided with a free website and an integrated digital payments function which is fully connected to the DPO and Mastercard payments gateway platform meaning that all forms of payment including cards and mobile money can be accepted.
The website is customised for each merchant to reflect their brand and it includes stock management capability, a stock-alert system when product inventory runs low and real-time order management.
Since the product was soft-launched in Kenya in the beginning of April, thousands of transactions have taken place.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a human tragedy, but it is also having a growing economic impact and is forcing companies everywhere to make changes to their businesses. SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy in Africa and many are already struggling to be visible and trade in this unusual environment, with many of their customers now staying at home,” says Eran Feinstein, CEO of DPO Group.
“We are pleased to be partnering with Mastercard on this timely initiative to try and address some of the challenges businesses of all sizes are facing, working with merchants to ‘reinvent’ their business by offering a fast, secure online capability, which they may not have had access to before.”
In 2018, DPO Group and Mastercard entered into a partnership whereby DPO is authorised to act as a Pan-African payments switch via Mastercard Payments Gateway Services, meaning it can independently authorise transactions with no need for bank integration.
“At Mastercard, we see a connected world where opportunity and prosperity are possible for everyone, everywhere. We are leveraging our network, insights, technology and partnerships – like this one with DPO – to deliver the resources small business owners need now to help them sustain their business as they quickly adapt to a new way of operating and evolving customer needs through e-commerce,” says Adam Jones, Area Business Head for East Africa at Mastercard.
Currently, 55 businesses providing essential products and services have already signed up to the DPO Store in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia.
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