What Google’s naira payment means for Nigerian businesses

Recently, Google partnered with Verve, a popular card network in Africa, to improve the payment system on the Play Store for Nigerians. Now, users in Nigeria can easily pay in their local currency, the Naira, making digital transactions on Google Play easier and more affordable.

Google’s decision to allow naira payments on the Play Store will have a significant impact on both Google and the Nigerian market. As Nigerian users no longer need to worry about currency conversion or extra fees when making purchases on the platform. This change is expected to make the Play Store more popular in Nigeria, leading to more app downloads and purchases.

With this addition, local app developers and content creators in Nigeria are likely to join the Play Store ecosystem and contribute to a dynamic and localized app market. A look at the Play Store shows that most paid apps are games with a simple fee structure.

In July 2023, VerveCard reported it had issued over 50 million payment cards in Nigeria. Also, data from Statista shows that as of January 2022, above 28 percent of cardholders in Nigeria had Mastercard, and above 18 percent had Visas.

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However, between 2019 and 2022, Verve was the most popular card in Nigeria, making up 54 percent of the cards in Nigeria for point of sales and Card transactions. Verve has previously partnered with other businesses to advance financial inclusion in Nigeria.

“These transactions will be undertaken in Nigerian Naira (NG). As a result, any Nigerian with an Android device and a Verve card now has a streamlined method for making purchases on the Google Play Store,” Ayoola Efunkoya said in a Tweet.

Chidozie Ogbuja, a software developer said the addition of Naira payment means that businesses and users based in Nigeria can make purchases and payments on the Google Play Store using their local currency, instead of having to convert it to other currencies.

“By allowing transactions in Naira, businesses can potentially tap into a larger customer base in Nigeria. It may encourage more customers to make purchases, especially those who were hesitant due to currency conversion fees and exchange rate fluctuations.”

“Accepting payments in local currency may help businesses comply with local regulations and tax requirements, as they are conducting transactions in the national currency of the country,” he said.