Checkout.com achieves major growth milestones across MENA

With over 200 million individuals in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan switching to eCommerce as a result of the epidemic, Checkout.com has seen record-breaking growth in payment processing this year and growing its geographic headcount, and acquiring footprint in the region.

According to Checkout.com’s founder and CEO Guillaume Pousaz, the company saw a nearly 75 percent year-over-year increase in payment processing volumes for the region in December of this year, owing to the recent surge in demand for goods and services seen by the company’s numerous local and international merchants.

“It has been a step-change year for us across the MENA region, all driven by the partnerships we’ve put in place with our merchants over the past decade,” said Pousaz.

He added, “We’ve opened offices in KSA and Pakistan, expanded our regional team to 90 people, and have our sights set on even broader expansion—including upgrading our office in Dubai. And we remain the only payments provider with an extensive working knowledge of the complexity across the region, rooted in a decade’s worth of data and insights here.”

“We’ve seen a huge increase in appetite from merchants to cover multiple target markets using a single payments platform—and to have the flexibility to offer multiple local currency and alternative payment methods at the same time,” said Mo Yusuf, regional manager for MENA at Checkout.com.

“We’ve continued to lead the local market here—as the first to offer Apple Pay to merchants in Bahrain and Qatar, and the only provider in the market with comprehensive payment coverage of global credit and debit cards, digital wallets and popular local payment methods such as mada, QPay, KNET and OmanNet.” 

“Through this activity, our team has been able to share insight and experience for the good of the regional technology landscape,” added Yusuf.

He also said, “We have advocated on topics from digital payments and eCommerce to skills and talent, working in partnership with those policymakers and regulators who are keen to grow the MENA fintech market.”

Checkout.com’s land-and-expand approach for increasing share-of-wallet among its present merchants has been a huge success, as has the rise of net-new merchant accounts. It also backs some of the region’s biggest names, such as Carrefour, Extra, Instashop, and Vox Cinemas, and has secured business from some of the biggest companies this year, including Carrefour, Extra, Instashop, and Vox Cinemas (among many others).

With its adoption of in-app social purchasing and buy-now-pay-later, the MENA area is likewise exceeding larger regions (such as Europe and APAC). Today, more than 75% of customers in the region say they use a fintech app, with 81 percent saying they directly benefit from the sector’s growth. As a result, Checkout.com led a $110 million Series A investment in Tamara, one of the region’s fastest-growing buy-now-pay-later firms, in April of this year.

While Checkout.com’s performance in the UAE remained strong, it also expanded its acquiring presence in nine additional countries across MENA, solidifying its position as the ideal partner for enterprise merchants in the region.

The company has continued to work with industry organisations and authorities to improve payment rails even more. It became a member of the MENA Fintech Association in order to keep a close eye on merchant and customer trends through its market-wide survey work, and it just released its annual report on the condition of eCommerce and digital payments in the region.

Customer spotlight

Checkout.com was named first for customer satisfaction among payment processing vendors in the MENA area this year, in addition to being routinely chosen for its reliable cross-border payments, dedicated customised service, and deep local understanding.

• OSN is the largest pay-TV provider in the Middle East and North Africa. Its TV, mobile, tablet, and PC services are used by over 1.4 million individuals in 26 markets. “Checkout.com has a strong local reputation as a result of its collaboration with a number of prominent MENA retailers. Since partnering with Checkout.com in 2018, OSN’s payment approval rate has grown by 5%. This is a major improvement in performance that has contributed significantly to our bottom line.” —OSN’s Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Richard Farrell

• Alshaya is a global franchise leader. It helps over 90 worldwide businesses develop their footprint across MENA, including Starbucks, H&M, The Body Shop, and Victoria’s Secret. “Checkout.com’s extensive knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa stood out from the rest. It has teams on the ground who are familiar with the market and client need. Other worldwide payment providers just do not have the capability.” —Red Bamba, Senior Manager of Digital Payments at Alshaya.

• In less than a decade, Careem has expanded from its origins in Dubai to 100 locations in 15 countries, providing consumers with taxis, hiring cars, takeaways, shopping, and even bike-sharing schemes. “There are a lot of layers to it.” However, if you work with a payment partner like Checkout.com, you can get a competitive advantage. We collaborate with many vendors, but only a select handful are actual partners. Checkout.com is one of our growth partners who assists us in retaining and attracting customers.” —Hassan Mahbub, Careem Pay’s Head of Strategy