Flutterwave is a B2B payment technology company that helps banks and other businesses provide seamless and secure payment experiences for their customers.
The San-Francisco and Lagos-based startup have now launched an online store (The Flutterwave Store) for its customers. It is an online store for African merchants to create digital shops and sell online.
Remember in an earlier article, we talked about platforms to sell online and reach a wider audience during this pandemic, the Flutterwave Store fits right into that category.
The Flutterwave Store was accelerated to help small businesses survive in the midst of the realities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The online store will, however, continue to function even after COVID-19.
Is Flutterwave Pivoting?
Flutterwave’s CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, also commented and answered a few questions surrounding the launch. He said;
“It’s not a direction change. We’re still a B2B payment infrastructure company. We are not moving into becoming an online retailer, and no we’re not looking to become Jumia.”
“The goal is not to become like eBay, that’s advocating for everybody. We’re just giving small merchants the infrastructure to create an online store at zero cost right from scratch,”
Unlike Jumia and Konga in the eCommerce space, the Flutterwave Store will have no inventory or warehouse requirements.
The platform will be available in 15 African countries, and although creating an online store on the platform is free, merchants will be charged on payments made in each store for each transaction.
Related Article: Paystack vs Flutterwave: Which is your ideal payment processor?
How to Create a Flutterwave Store
To create a Flutterwave Store, visit the website. You will be required to provide the necessary personal and bank account information. Subsequently, you will then be assigned a merchant ID to perform transactions with customers.
Although at the time of writing this post, the Flutterwave Store dashboard is still not available to the public, we expect it to go live very soon.
Is This a Subtle Pivot?
Flutterwave’s CEO, Gbenga, has said the startup is not pivoting and that it is still a payment solution. However, we think the success of Flutterwave Store will determine whether it’ll pivot to eCommerce or not.
What do you think? Is Flutterwave using this to test the eCommerce waters? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.