PayU MEA and Efinity have partnered to bring payments and distribution under one roof with the launch of a new e-commerce service for retailers.

A subsidiary of Naspers, PayU is an online payments gateway that processes 65% of the e-commerce transaction value in South Africa, says the company website.

Efinity, owned by Media24, is an e-commerce service that was launched earlier this year.

Efinity empowers e-commerce merchants by delivering orders, monitoring stock levels and managing the warehousing of products, says the company description.

The partnership with PayU is driven by the desire to create an offering of services to retailers that will enable them to seamlessly transact online, said an official from Efinity.

According to Efinity, the service works in such a way that the retailer creates their website, their product selection and attracts the shoppers. From the moment the shopper wants to place the order they can use the PayU payment portal to transact securely.

The order is then placed and managed and fulfilled using Efinity warehousing and distribution, says the company statement.

Head of operations for Media24 e-commerce, Shuamie Karriem, said, “As the number of online consumers increase, security around transactions and efficiency in delivering becomes a competitive point of differentiation and a hallmark of a responsible online retailer. We are thrilled to be partnering with one of the leading payment portals in the South African landscape.”

Retailers that use Efinity services will not be tied to only using PayU as a payment gateway, an official confirmed to ITWeb Africa.

“This is not an exclusive partnership so businesses that make use of Efinity fulfilment still have complete choice over which payment portal they prefer,” said the official.

The official added, "PayU will be offering clients preferential rates."

South African consumers have been slow on the uptake of e-commerce with security often cited as the main cause for the lack of enthusiasm.  

According to a MasterCard survey released earlier this year 90% of South African online shoppers say that better security would convince them to spend more online.

The survey further revealed that out of an addressable market of 4.6 million only 2.3 million people actually shopped online in 2013.

However, Efinity says its partnership with PayU is to overcome the two greatest barriers for online retailers, namely security and infrastructure.

PayU MEA chief executive officer, Mustapha Zaouini said, “This partnership illustrates our commitment to developing key strategic alliances that develop the online space through increasing security and ease of payment whilst ensuring our clients enjoy eCommerce success through effective and efficient integration with specialists.”