Cellulant, Link Commerce partner to improve cross-border trade across Africa
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Cellulant, a pan-African financial technology company for digital payments platform has collaborated Link Commerce, an eCommerce platform, to avail relevant digital payment options to online shoppers by making it possible to purchase goods directly from global retailers online.
The partnership between the platforms is expected to push the local and international commerce of the African region to the forefront globally by addressing payment needs and enabling African consumers to shop directly from their favourite global stores using local payment options. Similarly, the deal will enable eCommerce platforms to leverage the partnership between Cellulant and Link Commerce to power trade and eCommerce activity to last mile-consumers.
A report by UNCTAD shows that since 2014 the number of online shoppers in Africa has surged annually by 18 percent. As of 2019, the number of digital buyers in Africa had increased to 233 million. According to a Statista forecast, the number of e-commerce users in the continent will continue to grow significantly in the next few years reaching about 334 million online shoppers in Africa by 2021 and roughly 478 million by 2024.
The rapid development of e-commerce is tied to the growth in smartphone penetration over the past decade in Africa, as well as a shift in consumer-spend behaviour, who are turning more to online shopping for their goods. Consequently, the payments infrastructure has also evolved to offer payments solutions that enable more consumers across Africa to participate in online shopping without a bank account.
Chris Folayan, chief executive officer, Link Commerce, commenting on the partnership, said: “With a global surge in online sales, and travel restrictions, finding the right partner to enable our customer the ability to pay locally and via mobile payment platforms is important to us. We are excited to be partnering with Cellulant as we grow cross-border trade across Africa. Removing payment and delivery barriers by ensuring everyone can pay for and receive products directly from US/UK retailers via Link Commerce powered apps”.
Akshay Grover, acting CEO, Cellulant, added, “In Africa, there are over 150 different payment channels, and in most cases, very fragmented for the consumers. Therefore, any global retailer looking to reach African consumers needs to prioritise local payments such as mobile money into their strategy. Through our partnership with Link Commerce, we can connect consumers in two-thirds of the countries in Africa with global retailers on a single payments platform. Consumers can shop from US or UK retailers or any global businesses of their choice and pay easily with digital methods already familiar to them.’’