The old-fashioned ways of doing business and processing payments which people depended on for many years, became questionable during the pandemic. More people eventually moved from making and receiving cash payments, to paying for products and services digitally.
As we have gradually moved towards the reopening of economies, business owners had once again prioritized their growth initiatives, which means that they are actively seeking innovative ways to reach more customers, eradicate inefficiencies, and ultimately enhance customer experiences.
For Okoro who runs an accessories store in Lagos, his business took a bad hit during the pandemic. With the imposed lockdown measures in place, he had to find avenues to keep the lights on, which eventually meant moving his business online to reach more customers. He was able to open up a website where he put up the accessories that he had for sale for people to place orders, make payments, and have them delivered to their doorsteps in no time.
Read also: 10 Predictions for Nigeria’s digital payment in 2021
Like Okoro’s, many forward-thinking businesses began to explore e-commerce options to showcase and retail their products and services to continue operating and making a profit. This was a direct response to the increase in digital penetration in Nigeria, and all over the world, where people adopted new buying habits – frequenting online stores and gradually falling out of love with in-person shopping.
However, one thing that still serves as a limitation to these online businesses, that are finally finding their feet amidst the pandemic, is how they can connect with more potential customers outside their terrains who now love to shop online, as a means to grow their businesses even further. As for Okoro, he wondered about the possibility of still being able to scale his business beyond Nigeria and thought about how his e-commerce site and payment gateway were not well-positioned for this.
As a business owner trying to leverage this new digital normal to expand to international markets during the pandemic, a key strategy to consider is adopting innovative, secure, and seamless payment solutions to your e-commerce website to make your customers more comfortable with shopping on your platform and to eventually receive payments from anyone across the globe. Working with an innovative payment system can help to offer customers diverse payment methods, giving your business the opportunity to attract people from all over the world, which could potentially contribute to growth and expansion.
One such innovative payment system is Unlimint.
Unlimint acts as an integrated partner for businesses that offer more than 1500 alternative payment methods that can help open businesses up to a wider customer base and new markets internationally.
So, as a business owner who wants to adapt to today’s hyper-connected and technologically enabled world of business, consider partnering with Unlimint so you can serve customers from anywhere in the world, even where payment cards are not widespread.
In conclusion, as we examine the negative effects of the pandemic on businesses and economies, we cannot exclude these new digital opportunities that have come to stay, which businesses can leverage to access customers like never before.
With the increasing ratio of online to offline businesses, there is a demand for reliable online payments, and with it, a slew of innovative payment solutions has emerged.
It is therefore pertinent to partner with agile payments solutions providers such as Unlimint, which are constantly evolving to help you remain ready for the payment needs of tomorrow.
