Encouraging the acceptance of QR codes by SA micro merchants

Genesis was commissioned by a global financial services company to conduct research on how to encourage the uptake of QR payments by micro merchants in South Africa, on behalf of a payment solutions provider aiming to enter this space. 

South Africa enjoys relatively high levels of financial inclusion, but a large share of transactions is still conducted in cash, and smaller businesses in particular lag their corporate counterparts in accepting digital payments. 

Accepting digital payments has a number of benefits for small businesses - it is safer and easier than handling cash, it is more convenient and opens up access to a larger number of customers, and it allows for the creation of a more consistent paper trail, which is important when it comes to accessing credit from formal financial institutions.

The Genesis team conducted desktop and primary research, sizing the most relevant micro-merchant sectors (both formal and informal) to estimate potential revenue as well as conducting a nationwide survey on the needs of micro merchants and their responses to the digital wallet and payments solution offered by the payment solutions provider. 

In addition the team performed a supply-and-demand size analysis on global digital-wallet offerings to better understand best practice in this past.

Based on the results of the analysis, the team developed a set of recommendations for the payments-solutions provider on how it could win in this space. The findings were presented to the provider to inform their proposition.