Flutterwave unveils new e-Commerce service to scale SME growth

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payment technology company, has unveiled the launch of its new e-commerce service; Flutterwave Market – an extension of its Flutterwave Store service – that will bring together a collection of merchant stores in one place.

Flutterwave Market brings e-commerce closer to the merchants and customers of a business. The new Flutterwave Market is designed to assist businesses in reaching new customers and as a result, increase sales and revenue.

Customers will not only be able to purchase from several Flutterwave Store merchants, but they will also be able to buy a variety of products from across different businesses at their convenience.

The Flutterwave Market will display Flutterwave stores across various product categories and countries. To further improve the shopping experience, it will contain features such as product search, category display, and country filter.

The solution would show product categories including men’s and women’s fashion, beauty, and food, which are popular among Flutterwave Store customers. Customers will be able to place orders and have them delivered to their desired locations.

Flutterwave Store launched in April 2020 with the goal of keeping the lights on for small businesses that had been shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic that spread throughout several countries.

To date, the e-commerce solution has grown to over 30,000 businesses, with features such as discount coupons and multiple product uploads being added. Rather than just following their store link, the Flutterwave Market gives customers another way to find and purchase from these businesses.

Recent data from Statista shows that as of 2020, the number of digital buyers in Africa experienced an increase to 281 million. The number of e-commerce users in the continent is also estimated to grow significantly, reaching over 334 million in 2021. By 2025, they could be roughly 520 million, almost doubling the number in 2019