PayU moves to connect businesses to N200bn online payment market

PayU has rolled out strategies to intensify efforts to connect businesses to Nigeria’s online payment market 

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PayU has rolled out strategies to intensify efforts to connect businesses to Nigeria’s online payment market. Annual online payments in Nigeria is estimated to surpass N200bn (US$635mn) this year from N167bn (US$530mn)  in 2016.

Country Manager of PayU Nigeria, Ms Juliet Nwanguma,  says, “In order to pursue PayU’s aggressive expansion in the online payment market in Nigeria, we have identified businesses that can benefit from our  global expertise across 16 markets where we offer over 250 payment options.”

With over 2.3bn users worldwide, PayU is confident it can help businesses grow their market share and help them to achieve their business objectives.

Data recently released by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that 5.5 million transactions worth N46.7bn (US$14.8mn) were generated through online sales in the first quarter of 2017. This is an increase in the quarterly average of 3.5mn transactions worth N33billion (US$10.4mn) in 2016. This 58 per cent growth is a clear indication of the increased confidence and preference for online sales amongst Nigerians.

The double-digit growth, according to Nwanguma, is far below the potential of the market for online payments in Nigeria.  

Nwanguma noted that in a country of over 180mn people, consisting of 61mn active bank customers and where e-payment transactions are worth N56 trillion (US$177bn) in a year, the potential for online payments in Nigeria is huge and waiting to be tapped.

She disclosed that the mission of PayU is to leverage on Nigeria’s 97mn active internet users to popularise and increase online payments in Nigeria.

“At PayU, we believe that with the deployment of appropriate strategies and products which are designed to encourage more businesses to adopt online payment, the market in Nigeria can record triple digit growth in both volume and value of online payments. This is the driving philosophy of PayU’s operations in Nigeria” she said.

Since last year when we entered the Nigerian market, we have used our globally tested products such as tokenisation, recurring payments for subscription services and single click payments for faster checkout. Our range of services according to different business categories especially the PayU Easy service allows start-ups to start selling online instantly without the need of a bank account or trading history. ”

“PayU has succeeded in successfully assisting small, medium and large organisations with their online payments. In particular, the robust and flexible features of PayU Plus and PayU Enterprise have assisted merchants to grow and expand their online payment business.”