Standard Bank’s latest iteration of its SimplyBlu platform gives small and medium enterprise owners a real-time, remote snapshot into more areas of their business.
“SimplyBlu comes preloaded with stock and inventory, acceptance of payment on a POS device and QR payments like Snapscan. We call it an omni-channel solution because in the next couple of weeks, you’ll also be able to publish an e-commerce or DIY store based on the available stock and inventory. “The merchant app is a powerful tool…it gives you power to manage your business remotely. It gives the store owner power to not be in the store to view sales, manage stock and keep abreast of business.”
The associated fee, he pointed out, covers the cost of processing transactions with Visa or Mastercard. “We have to pay interchange to the issuer, which is the cost of using a card payment. We collect this on behalf of the issuers and we also pay our margin on top.”, SMEs are the lifeblood of SA’s economy, making up over 98% of businesses across the country and contributing 39% of the gross domestic product.
Nyawo said there are other pain points, such as the cost of setting up a company and the barriers to entry for small business owners.