New Payfast report: Key insights on South Africa's payment landscape

Mpho Sadiki, group managing director of Merchant Solutions (Africa) at Network International.

Source: Supplied. David Adams, managing director at Payfast by Network.

Featuring expert insight from companies like Absa and KFC, as well as extensive merchant and consumer survey data, the report highlights the convergence of commerce – an industry-defining trend that is set to deliver customer convenience and merchant efficiency.

“Unified Commerce isn’t a new concept – but for the first time, we have the technology and infrastructure to start implementing it in a meaningful way. Essentially, it’s taking omnichannel commerce and ramping it up to the point that customers can interact with a business across multiple touchpoints and have a truly seamless experience.

"For this year’s State of Pay, we wanted to know how far along South African merchants are in terms of taking this next step,” says David Adams, managing director at Payfast by Network.

Unified Commerce refers to a business strategy that brings together all store sales channels and activities on to a single system, giving merchants the power to offer a seamless shopping experience.

Unified commerce insights

To understand sentiment towards Unified Commerce and get an insight into how businesses are implementing it, Network International conducted a survey across the Payfast by Network e-commerce merchant database.

A centralised omnichannel point-of-sale (POS) system emerged as the most common Unified Commerce strategy, with 41% of merchants currently using one to streamline payments and customer experience. Of these, over 40% reported that it resulted in higher customer spend.

Commenting on the report, Mpho Sadiki, group managing director of Merchant Solutions (Africa) at Network International said, “The launch of our Network POS offering combines digital and in-person payment-management systems into a single platform.

"This enables merchants to run their businesses, accept payments seamlessly across multiple channels, and leverage value-added service capabilities to expand their revenue streams. As a result, merchants are free to focus their energies on what matters most - scaling and growing their businesses. This is just one of the benefits of implementing a Unified Commerce strategy.”

The report also investigates the rise of marketplaces in South Africa and their impact on local e-commerce businesses' success. Over 70% of the merchants surveyed see this as an opportunity to reach more customers, drive innovation, and promote growth.

The top three marketplaces for local merchants include Takealot, Amazon (South Africa), and Makro Marketplace – with Takealot emerging as the most popular option for merchants to sell their products.

Providing a deeper look into online payment trends, the State of Pay report details insights sourced from Payfast by Network platforms over the past year. Overall, mobile wallets and open banking solutions like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Capitec Pay have grown significantly, indicating a growing familiarity, comfort, and trust with the adoption of digital payment solutions.

In terms of other notable insights – Monday emerged as the most popular day for online shopping, and November named the most popular month, as customers take advantage of Black Friday sales and prepare for the festive season.

As per the report, 71% of merchants surveyed expressed a positive sentiment about the upcoming festive season which is also the busiest retail time of the year.