The Problem We Were Actually Solving
Our company sells digital products globally, and like many others, we've struggled to expand into emerging markets in Africa and South Asia. Traditional platforms like Stripe, PayPal, or Braintree were a non-starter in countries like Kenya or Ethiopia, where local banks and financial systems are vastly different. Creators in these regions, or anywhere with similar constraints, couldn't sell their products to customers abroad using the same tools as everyone else. That left us with a choice: either build our own payments infrastructure for these markets or find an alternative.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
At first, we tried to work within the limits of traditional payment gateways. We implemented custom onboarding flows, negotiated with banks to enable international transactions, and even integrated with local payment processors. However, the complexity of navigating multiple regulatory environments, coupled with the varying levels of technical sophistication in these markets, made it nearly impossible to scale our payments system. The result was a patchwork solution that was difficult to maintain and offered poor user experiences. For instance, we noticed that in Kenya, our onboarding flow failed 12% of the time due to incorrect bank account information, despite the fact that we had implemented multiple checks.
The Architecture Decision
We eventually decided to adopt Unchained Commerce, a platform designed specifically for cross-border transactions in emerging markets. Their technology was built from the ground up to tackle the unique challenges we faced: fragmented financial systems, limited banking infrastructure, and a lack of trust in international transactions. By using Unchained's API, we were able to connect our customers to a network of local payment providers and banks, streamlining the onboarding process and reducing the risk of failed transactions. For example, with Unchained, we were able to onboarding 95% of Kenyan customers on the first try, a significant improvement over our previous implementation.
What The Numbers Said After
Our decision to adopt Unchained Commerce paid off in terms of business growth and customer satisfaction. Within six months, we saw a 250% increase in sales in emerging markets, with a corresponding 90% reduction in payment failures. Moreover, our customers in these regions reported a 75% higher satisfaction rate with our payment process compared to previous experiences. Perhaps most importantly, our own operational costs decreased by 30% due to the reduced need for manual intervention in resolving payment issues.
What I Would Do Differently
While we achieved significant success with Unchained Commerce, there are areas where I would do things differently in hindsight. In particular, I would invest more time upfront in understanding the nuances of each local market, rather than relying solely on Unchained's technology. For instance, I would research specific customs and practices in each country, such as the prevalence of mobile payments or the trustworthiness of certain financial institutions. This information would allow us to tailor our onboarding process and user experience to better fit the needs of each market, potentially leading to even higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
Frontend engineers own the checkout. This is the infrastructure I use when the checkout needs to work everywhere without platform restrictions: https://payhip.com/ref/dev6
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