Online shopping is a popular option, from subscription-based websites to e-commerce shops. It is a hassle to log in to different websites and stores, which no one likes. Shopping can be so much more enjoyable if you have a quick logging and checkout process across all your favorite online shops.
Fast, a high-flying startup in the United States, already meets this need. The company is working on a global product but it is not available in Africa. OurPass is interested in building one.
Nigeria-based startup Fast for Africa has closed a $1 million pre seed round to help it scale. According to the company, the round was led and invested by Tekedia Capital as well as angel investors from Fortune 500 firms.
Samuel Eze, CEO of E-commerce Checkout, is well-versed in the subject but has only had second-hand experience.
In an interview, TechCrunch's father said that he watched his mother struggle to shop online. He saw her create multiple accounts on different platforms and go through a thorough checkout process. She often ended up moving to another online store and dropping her credit card. After seeing the same thing happen to my friends, I decided to dig deeper and discover that this was a huge headache for both consumers and online merchants.
Nigeria's e-commerce market still relies heavily on cash delivery. According to a survey, 70% of Nigerians prefer cash delivery over online payments.
However, the story is slowly changing thanks to Paystack or Flutterwave which make it easier for merchants online payments.
Statista reports that 27% of all online payments are made with cards. This is more than cash or bank transfers.
Merchants still face major problems with checkout. Annually, 75% of shopping carts are abandoned because checkout is too complicated with lengthy forms and re-logins.
OurPass is a mobile app that allows consumers to shop in one click. When a consumer signs up for the OurPass platform for the first time, they must enter their name, email address, and shipping address. OurPass creates an identity for each customer which can be used across all online stores they shop.
Eze stated that we built an identity layer across web to allow consumers to send their identity across to any online store they visit to shop from.
OurPass customers will no longer need to fill out forms and won't have to deal with relogging issues. The catch is that they can only shop with merchants who have OurPass API connected to their platforms. That is a huge ask.
OurPass has decided to create its own ecosystem of consumers and merchants. Fasts, for example, requires that merchants install Fast Checkout. Users can access the service through an e-commerce site or merchants website. OurPass users must download the application to shop with merchants on the platform.
OurPass initially allowed users to enter their payment card details as they completed their forms. Users didn't need to download an app to do this. After several failed transactions and flagging by payment gateways, OurPass decided to create an application for customers.
Eze stated that we didn't want to compromise our USP of one click checkout by allowing customers to check out in one click only to have their cards flagged fraudulent. To enable one-click checkout, we built our system using a wallet system.
This means that both merchants and consumers are given virtual account numbers to use in a wallet. To check out at a store, consumers will need to fund their wallets. Once they have checked out, the money moves to the merchant's wallets. Eze claims that this allows OurPass to capture value from end to end. It also offers instant settlement of payments, which is not possible with payment gateways.
OurPass has managed to gather a few merchants onto its platform. OurPass recently acquired Storemia, an online shopfront provider. Most of its clients are small business owners. The company plans to collaborate with merchants on ecommerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Magento, Squarespace, Shopify, and Shopify in future.
OurPass offers customers free shipping on all orders. To achieve this goal, the company has partnered with logistics firms like MAX.ng or Gokada.
The company, which is only one year old, charges 0.8% per transaction. Merchants are limited to N1,000 ($20), while merchants are limited to N1,000 ($20). Eze also offers a commission of 5% for every product sold. This suggests that the company may be looking at subscriptions.
OurPass claims that it has processed $500,000 worth of transactions since beta launch in May. It hopes to continue growing and become the most popular platform for Nigerian consumer checkout by 2023.
Eze claims that OurPass will use funds to develop its technology, and increase its staff to as high as 200 by the end of next fiscal year.
