Targets retail payment, eCommerce growth

Ahead of next week’s Card Expo forum, the organizer, Intermarc Consulting Limited, has said that it hoped to use the programme to improve the about N6 trillion web and mobile payment volume recorded in the country about 18 months ago.

Aside that, the forum is also positioned to beam searchlight development on Nigeria’s retail payment and eCommerce sub-Sector.

In an interview with The Guardian, Assistant Director, Intermarc Consulting, Lilian Ekwedike, disclosed that CardExpo has consistently addressed pressing economic issues in its last 15years and now in its 16th year, it can only be expected and positioned to contribute to national question.

Scheduled for June 14 to 16 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, Ekwedike said this year’s theme ‘Retail Payment and eCommerce’ is apt for adoption of a change economy.

“Indeed, retail and ecommerce sectors are increasingly retiring higher percentages of national economy returns. This is an interesting trend and at CardExpo we are going to show the finest innovations in job creations through the ecommerce and particularly how anyone with an idea can aspire to become a contributor to the GDP than just a mere speculator”, she stated.

According to her, this year’s programme presents a collapsed marketplace of vendors and services along the ecommerce value-chain, adding that companies will have opportunities to assess themselves against global benchmarks and forge new partnerships to position themselves for future opportunities.

On the projected impact of the expo on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Cash-less economy initiative, the Intermarc Consulting Assistant Manager said: “CardExpo 2016 further propagates the cas-hless policy of the CBN. We are particularly promoting ecommerce and innovative ways to pay for retail products and services.

In 2014, Nigeria’s total mobile and web payment volume was above N6 trillion naira. That’s a major indices, about a shift in payment method and we are tracking and pointing investors in the direction of such shifts and potential new markets.”

Prior to now, Ekwedike said CardExpo has been able to highlight new technologies and given platforms for innovative connections among businesses, adding that it has proudly fostered the relationship that birthed the Banking Verification Number and many other major business solutions across the country.

On the eCommerce sub-Sector, She said the signals indicated that ecommerce is the next frontier for not only job creation but also commercial exchanges. According to her, there’s hardly any conceivable sector or business industry that’s not being disrupted by the incursion of ecommerce, adding that retail payment is receiving all the attention today because ecommerce has introduced a game changer – the unmanned POS, stressing that this sector has to be understudied and scaled for national economic development.

Speaking on plans for young developers, especially in the eCommerce space that will assist in their growth, Ekwedike said: “We have encouraged and will continue to encourage innovative entrants into the payment ecospace. Last year, some innovative pitches were given the platform to expose their projects to investors and those adjudged to be viable enterprises were awarded cash rewards to the tune of N1 million.