The Problem We Were Actually Solving
My goal was to create a seamless e-commerce experience for Nigerian artists buying and selling music beats, without the limitations of traditional platforms. But there was a catch - the lack of local payment gateways and the exclusion of international payment processors like PayPal and Stripe in Nigeria meant I had to get creative. I had to find a solution that would allow my customers to pay without these platforms, lest I lose them to the competition.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
My first approach was to try and hack together a solution using mobile money services like M-Pesa and GTBank Transfer. However, these services came with their own set of issues - they required manual intervention, were prone to errors, and had limited reach. Not to mention the headache of integrating these services into my existing e-commerce system. I quickly realized that this was a patchwork solution that would only lead to more problems down the line.
The Architecture Decision
After some research, I decided to take a step back and rethink my commerce engine from scratch. I knew I needed a more robust solution that could handle local transactions, but also scale with my growing business. I opted for an unchained commerce approach, which allowed me to bypass traditional payment gateways and integrate local payment methods directly into my system. This not only saved me from the limitations of third-party platforms but also gave me full custody over the checkout experience. I chose to integrate with local payment processors like Interswitch and Flutterwave, which offered more reliable and scalable payment options for my Nigerian customers.
What The Numbers Said After
After implementing my new commerce engine, I saw a significant increase in sales and customer satisfaction. Payment success rates jumped from 50% to over 80%, and customer complaints about payment issues dropped by 70%. But what really surprised me was the 20% increase in average order value - customers were more willing to invest in the music beats when they had a seamless payment experience. The numbers spoke for themselves - my customers loved the new, more tailored experience, and my business flourished as a result.
What I Would Do Differently
In retrospect, I would have done more due diligence on the local payment processors before implementing them. Interswitch and Flutterwave have been reliable partners so far, but I would have liked to test them more thoroughly before going live. Additionally, I would have explored more opportunities for customer segmentation and personalization within the checkout experience. With the flexibility of an unchained commerce approach, I should have taken more advantage of the data I had on my customers to tailor the experience even further.
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