How retailers can shift from multichannel to omnichannel payments
Retailers need to keep costs under control and reduce complexity in economic conditions that can best be described as uncertain and challenging. By Gary Bowers, product manager and Shaun Shehab, senior sales engineer at Ecentric Yet, despite this, they need to give...
Retailers should prepare for an uptick in consumer spending
South African retailers should get set for a recovery in retail sales between 2024 and 2026, according to a new report conducted on behalf of fintech Capital Connect. The report shows that total real retail sales are forecast to grow by 1.8% in 2024, gradually...
iKhokha expands retail presence
Fintech iKhokha has opened its eighth retail store, where their point-of-sale devices are sold and where merchants can access support, networking opportunities and other business enhancement tools. Since launching in 2012, iKhokha has developed a deep understanding...
How mid-market merchants can manage payment security
While the majority of people may not think twice about how they pay for their goods, ever-evolving retail payments, both in person and virtually, keep many CIOs awake at night worrying about where the next attack will come from and how best to mitigate against it. By...
SA retailers at an e-commerce crossroads
South Africa's e-commerce landscape has arrived at an important juncture. The explosive growth observed during the pandemic years has slowed down somewhat and consumer spending power has faltered amid low economic growth and a global cost of living crisis. At the same...
How retailers can ride the online shopping wave
Rapid growth in online shopping across most demographics creates a compelling opportunity for agile retailers to expand into new markets, build customer loyalty and grow their revenues. It also means that they will face more competition from shops outside their...
Africa’s retail infrastructure transformation an evolution and revolution
In the dynamic and ever-changing retail landscape, ongoing transformation is a strategic necessity to cater to the primary reality that 'the customer is king' - retailers must be adaptive to change in order to meet new customer demands. By Henry Myburgh, strategic key...
Moving point-of-sale into a smarter future
The digitalisation of the modern world economy is being driven rapidly by a shift from traditional payment methods. Fatima Khota, business unit manager of Rectron's point-of-sale (PoS) division, looks at how retailers in the formal and informal sector are adopting...
Retail transformation enhances operations, empowers employees
In today's digital world, retailers are looking for more innovative ways of optimising operations, increasing employee efficiency, and enhancing customer experiences. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) provides them with an invaluable tool to do so...
Why retailers should support cash buyers
South African retailers that go completely cashless potentially risk excluding large portions of their customer base. With nine out of 10 transactions in South Africa still made in cash, removing this option limits customer choice in payment methods. That's according...
Technology improves payment reconciliation for retailers
As retailers grow into mid-market size and beyond, the complexity and cost of manually reconciling payments increases almost exponentially because there are hundreds of thousands, if not more, transactions a day. By Graham Bradford, senior product manager at Ecentric...
How retailers can survive despite low growth
With the International Monetary Fund forecasting that South African GDP will grow only 1% this year against a backdrop of load shedding and logistics disruptions, retailers will need to focus on diversification into new sectors as well as expanding market share at the...