PayPal strengthens presence in SA with PayGate partnership

PayPal recently announced the partnership with South Africa’s PayGate to further help strengthen its presence on the continent. Essentially, the partnership allows PayGate merchants to add the PayPal payment option to their online stores, with the hopes to grow the latter’s presence in South Africa and possibly increase customers base.

Founded in 1998, PayPal now manages 152-million active registered accounts in more than 100 currencies in 203 markets. With customers’ reassurance of not having to give up financial information with every purchase online, the company is said to process 9.3-million transactions per day.

“PayPal is known and trusted around the world, providing a simple and more secure way to shop and pay online,” says Malvina Goldfeld, head of business development for sub-Saharan Africa at PayPal.

“We are also one of the world’s most trusted ways to accept payments, having spent over a decade mastering risk to reduce fraud. With 152 million active accounts in over 200 markets we help businesses of all sizes unlock economic opportunity by reaching new global sales opportunities, and this is what we can offer South African merchants,” she adds.

The popularity of the US-based payment service in South Africa could possibly help local merchants expand their market overseas by carrying the PayPal brand as a trusted badge. Speaking to Ventureburn earlier this year, Goldfield said that PayPal’s aim is to help “build demand among local consumers and introduce [its] global network of merchants to the new market opportunities.”

Goldfeld adds that, “according to research conducted by NorthStar in late 2013, ‘37% of European buyers said they would not have made cross-border purchases if PayPal had not been offered as a payment method.’ What that means to South African merchants is that adding PayPal can actually go as far as helping to boost their overseas sales.”

The eBay-owned digital payment solution has managed to scoop up over 1 million accounts in the country recently which is mostly attributed to its relationship with South Africa’s popular First National Bank. It also recently launched in Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria, after it announced to expand to nine other markets on the continent.