The PayPal alternative in Cambodia? Why we started GetLoy
In this article, I write about why and how we started GetLoy and what it can bring to the e-commerce ecosystem in Cambodia.
No Stripe or PayPal availability in Cambodia
Solutions such as PayPal or Stripe are not available in Cambodia, let alone offer any support for Khmer localisation. For a long time, the only way to do e-commerce in Cambodia was to use a mix of expensive cross-border transfers and personal accounts outside of Cambodia. But things have changed rapidly. Over the last few years, payment solutions from Cathay, Canadia and Acleda Bank appeared. In 2017, ABA Bank launched their PayWay service, extending their award-winning banking attitude to online credit card payments, offering faster deposits, lower rates, and a modern payment experience.
A cashless and mobile wallet era
While credit card payments are very important for businesses dealing with international customers, the trend for transactions in Cambodia is cashless mobile wallets. Started by Wing, PayGo24 and many others, the market has been shaken up with the appearance of Pi Pay in 2017, which grew their user base rapidly by offering high discounts at participating businesses.
Continuous changes and not enough developers.
We are often approached by merchants stuck between the banks and developers for several months or left with a merchant account without any explanation how to get it to work on their websites.
Once signed up as a merchant on a payment platform, there is often little technical help and documentation available to the merchants. This is causing high unexpected costs and leads some merchants to abandon the idea of accepting online payments on their websites altogether.
Once the payment solutions are implemented, keeping up to speed with the evolving solutions can create ongoing headaches.
The need of adding payment options to stay in the market or adjusting to API changes can be complicated for any merchants without access to a dedicated technical team.
When experienced these issues while implementing different payment solutions for our clients, we felt that there must be a better way.
Meet customer demands for modern payment methods in Cambodia
GetLoy is a payment integration platform, meaning that it does not process payments directly, but connects to different payment services and provides the tools to integrate them easily. Once set up, adding a new payment method is as simple as entering the merchant access details.
Easier access to payment options
The GetLoy plug-in for WooCommerce can be added to any WordPress website in under a minute without the need for a technical expert. The plug-in makes the checkout process secure and easy to the clients and provides the means for the shop owner to keep track of their sales.
One link to riel them all 😇
Not every product or service can be sold in an online shop. With GetLoy, having a website is not mandatory to receive payments. A seller can simply send a payment link to their customers by e-mail or instant messaging. When clicking on the link, the customers can choose the prefered payment method and the seller receives a confirmation as soon as the payment is completed.
Accept international donations for your cause
But GetLoy is not just about online stores and e-commerce. We recently added support for donation boxes, enabling non-profits to accept contributions of donors from all over the world straight to their ABA Bank account or any participating e-wallet solutions.
Unlike other donation solutions that do not support payouts to Cambodia, this allows the organizations to improve the reach of their causes to a globally connected audience without facing high bank fees for international bank transfers, which can eat up large parts of the donations especially for smaller amounts.
Conclusion
When we started the GetLoy journey, we never thought we would go this far within a few months. A lot of development is in the pipeline and we cannot wait to announce you the upcoming features.
For more information about GetLoy, please visit https://getloy.com or just pass by and say hello on our live chat, one of us or our bot 🤖 is always around.
Press release https://geekho.asia/press/getloy-payments-in-cambodia/
