We love buying things online, from ecommerce stores to subscription-based websites. However, nobody has fun having to log into different websites and stores over and over again. I mean, shopping can be a lot more fun if there was a fast logging and checkout system in all of your favorite online stores.
In the US, the soaring startup Fast already covers this need. Although the company is developing a global product, it is limited to Africa and OurPass has shown an interest in developing one for the marketplace.
The Nigeria-based startup, which calls itself “Fast For Africa,” has also completed a $ 1 million pre-seed round to grow across the country. The round was led by Tekedia Capital and angel investors from Fortune 500 companies, the company said.
Ecommerce checkout issues are familiar to founder and CEO Samuel Eze, but they are second-hand.
“I saw my mom trying to shop online where I set it up several Accounts on different platforms as they go through a rigorous checkout process, ”he told TechCrunch in an interview. “In many cases, she dropped the card and went to another online store. When I saw the same pattern in other friends and family, I had to dig into it and found that it actually gave consumers and online retailers a huge headache. “
Nigeria’s e-commerce market is still there heavy dependent on cash on delivery. In fact, in a 2019 survey, 70% of Nigerians said they prefer cash on delivery to online payments.
But the narrative is slow are changing with Paystack and Flutterwave, making it easier for merchants to collect payments online.
According to Statista, 27% of online payments are made on e-commerce sites aam now worn using cards, cash and bank transfers as the most common payment method exceed.
But cHeckout is still an important issue for dealers. About 75% of the shopping carts annually are abandoned due to the inconvenience of the cash register with long forms and new registrations.
To meet this challenge, OurPass offers a mobile application that enables consumers to shop with one click. When consumers first sign up on the OurPass platform, they enter their name, email and shipping address. OurPass then creates an identity for each customer, the is passed in every online store they buy.
“We have built an identity layer across the web to enable consumer identity be sent over to every single online shop where they checkout, ”said Eze.
Essentially, OurPass customers would no longer have to fill out a form or deal with re-logging issues. But here’s the thing: you can only shop from merchants who have the OurPass API linked to their platforms. And that’s a big question.
So why did OurPass choose this path of creating its own ecosystem of merchants and consumers? For example in Fast’s case, merchants only need to install Fast Checkout while users can access the service through an e-commerce or a merchant’s website. However, OurPass requires users to download an application and shop from merchants who use the platform.
Initially, OurPass allowed users to enter their payment card details the first time they fill out their forms without having to download an application. But after multiple payment gateways flagged many cards used by OurPass consumers and failed card transactions, the company decided to adopt a wallet strategy and created an application for consumers.
“We didn’t want to undermine our USP of one-click checkout by allowing consumers to check out with one click only to see their cards being flagged as fraudulent,” said Eze. “Therefore we had to build our system on a wallet system to enable this one-click checkout.”
That means consumers and retailers are assigned virtual account numbers used in a wallet. In order for consumers to check out at a store, they need to top up their wallets, and once they check out, the money goes into merchants’ wallets. According to Eze, this helps OurPass keep track of value end-to-end and provides instant processing of payments which, in his opinion, was not the case with payment gateways.
OurPass has gathered some merchants on its platform. Most of its customers are small businesses using Storemia, an online storefront company that OurPass recently acquired. The company also plans to partner with retailers on e-commerce platforms in the future, including WooCommerce, Magento, Squarespace, and Shopify, as well as social commerce platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
In addition to one-click checkout, OurPass also offers customers free delivery on all orders. The company has partnered with logistics companies like MAX.ng and Gokada to serve on this front.
The annual company charges 0.8% per transaction, up to a maximum of N1,000 (~ $ 20) for merchants and others 5% commission on every product sold – Eze also suggests a plan for the company to introduce subscriptions.
Since the beta started in May this year, OurPass has been claiming to have a transaction value of $ 500,000 and is hoping that continued growth will make it the preferred platform for consumer checkouts in Nigeria through 2023.
According to Eze, OurPass will continue to develop its technology per use of funds and expand its team to up to 200 employees by the end of next year.