Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) Limited, Archie Hesse, has advised merchants who intend to start serious commercial business in the E-commerce space to collaborate with the banks and fintechs to facilitate payments.
According to him, the payment system is a key enabler for online business transactions.
Speaking on the Citi Business Festival’s Virtual Forum on E-Commerce on Citi TV, Mr. Archie Hesse said when it comes to the development of the E-commerce area, the fintechs are the entities that really drive it with the support of the banks.
“The first advise I will give to any merchant who wants to embark on any serious e-commerce business is that you should talk to your bank or a fintech company. These two entities are the entities that are enabled to accept payment, and have been licensed by the Central Bank to convey all the serious products that we offer at GHIPSS. If there are any issues with the payment, they know who to follow, who has collected the money, and if there are any refunds, they know who to track,” he said.
“At GHIPSS, if you want to make a payment by card, the local card scheme is what we call the GHLink Card Scheme. We do have an e-commerce system that we work with banks, as well as fintechs. This E-commerce system is linked to the various work services that are created by merchants. It connects the merchant bank account to the website and also opens it up so that the merchant is able to receive funds from the GH Link card which are linked to your bank account,” he added
He cited instances on social media where individuals sell their items using their accounts to collect individual payments.
According to him, “these are not on commercial basis, and I am not going to discourage it. But once you want to move into the commercial space to start doing serious business, there is a need for you to contact your bank or a fintech company who will enable and ensure that funds are collected safely.”
The impact of the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus has been severe on almost every sector of the global economy.
It has caused governments to introduce social distancing measures to curb its spread.
This has had a ripple effect on trade as most traders have complained about their inability to import goods to stock their shops, due to restrictions on travel.
However, there has been a boom for online purchasing as consumers over the past few months have increasingly relied on online shopping due to the rapid expansion of internet connectivity and mobile technology.
According to a new “Global Shopping Index” report published by Salesforce, the number of unique digital shoppers rose 40% year-over-year (YoY). Digital shoppers drove 20% revenue growth compared to 12% in Q1 2019. This growth outperformed the pre-global pandemic 2019 holiday shopping season, which was viewed as very strong season.”
The 2020 edition of the Citi Business Festival started on Monday, June 1, 2020, with an array of radio and TV programmes.
It is sponsored by the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority (GIPC), ABSA Bank, Citi FM and powered by Ghana’s most comprehensive business news website, www.citibusinessnews.com.
Digital Analyst cautions businesses against impact of e-commerce fraud
The Digital Lead at PopOut, Maximus Ametorgor, has also advised businesses in the e-commerce space to be wary of instances of fraud which has the potential to reduce patronage of their services.
According to him, businesses will be able to satisfy their clients if they are assured of their security in purchases.