Ecommerce in Africa has once again evolved to a new height. Fluidcoins, the most recent player in the Fintech x Crypto space has launched a new product; FluidShop. 

FluidShop is a free online store created for entrepreneurs, freelancers, businesses, and digital product owners to showcase their products and services, make sales and accept payments in cryptocurrency-, particularly stablecoins. 

For business owners, providing different forms of payment for clients and customers is important. Naturally, this would mean adapting to newer payment systems such as cryptocurrency payment gateways. “The world has advanced. I want to create a system where businesses no longer worry about losing out on the conversion of high-quality leads in regards to receiving payments”, Lanre Adelowo, the CEO/CTO said. The entire crypto-economy in Africa is geared toward retail with no one building tools for businesses; it is interesting to note that this company has taken the initiative to empower African businesses to compete globally by providing them flexible options to make secure and fast borderless transactions via crypto. FluidShop was launched as part of the company’s ongoing strategy to accelerate online businesses. Owing to the range of subsidiary products they’ve launched since inception in November 2021, like Fluidcoins’ RelayPayment Link, and Checkout, anyone can now receive quick payments in crypto, retain it in their wallet feature or have it converted to fiat currency in a seamless payout process. In fact, with Relay, by sending out a link, creators and freelancers can accept crypto payments and automatically receive them in Naira directly in their bank accounts without the fear of fluctuating prices. 

“We understand crypto is volatile which is exactly why we cover the risk for your business. When customers pay you, you will always get the exact value in your local currency regardless of market fluctuations”, the company said. 

It’s no news that SMEs and one-man businesses are getting thrashed by processing fees, therefore, accepting cryptocurrency can help alleviate the situation. With over 300 million cryptocurrency users worldwide, thousands of businesses lose a lot of money from abandoned checkout processes as a result of unavailable crypto payment gateways. It’s safe to say that at its core, the company aims to maximize the earning potential of these businesses, especially in e-commerce. For businesses with established stores on Flutterwave or Paystack that may want to start accepting crypto payments, FluidShop allows them to seamlessly migrate their entire store to their platform. This way, they have one ‘website’ where customers can choose to pay in crypto via FluidShop or in Naira via the Flutterwave/Paystack checkout integration.  Adapting to FluidShop does not seem to pose any problems as the functionality is similar to other existing Fintech e-commerce products. Creating a FluidShop is easy and free i.e no subscription fee upon sign-up. The product is designed with integrations that provide a very simple way for anyone to sell, and even apply discounts with the tiniest application of effort. 

Once an account has been created, Merchants can upload pictures, videos, and variants of their product or service, and customize the store to their preference. FluidShop also offers a super inventory management system where Merchants can see how many products they have left, how many customers they’ve had for that month, etc.

FluidShop also boasts integration with WhatsApp and text messaging apps on iOS and Android. With this feature, customers enjoy 24/7 support, and merchants can get notifications when a customer initiates an order and when they are low on stock.

Deliberating from the perspective of user experience, people in Nigeria have moved from keeping their money in Naira for different personal reasons. Having these specific people as customers would mean that they would not like to engage businesses in Naira, and would prefer to transact via USDT, USDC etc. Also, foreign transaction fees are a finance nightmare and can be very expensive. With FluidShop, it is easier for E-commerce merchants in Nigeria to expand beyond their borders without needing to bother about the expensive consequences because customers abroad holding stablecoins can easily send payments in crypto, and in under 15 minutes, without having to go through the hassle of currency exchange.

Progressively, Fluidcoins has launched other products as well in their bid to help businesses enter into the cryptocurrency economy- products like InvoiceEarn, and Liquidity. This has resulted in the expansion of use cases among hundreds of new and existing merchants. SMEs in Africa are no longer limited in the way they receive payments from customers. With payment systems changing to operate through blockchain, more people are getting used to paying with crypto in an attempt to make their business truly borderless.

Create your free online shop here.

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