Selling online in Madagascar: store, mobile money and delivery

Selling online in Madagascar means adapting to how customers pay and take delivery: mobile money and payment on delivery play a role there that bank cards do not. Here is how to build an online store that matches local buying habits.

Payment: start with mobile

Three mobile money services are widely used in Madagascar: MVola, Orange Money and Airtel Money. For many buyers, it is the most natural way to pay, well ahead of the bank card.

An online store should therefore offer, at the very least:

• mobile money, on the services your customers use;
• payment on delivery, which remains common and reassures a first-time buyer;
• bank card, if you also sell to customers abroad or to the diaspora.

Offering only one of these means turning down part of your orders.

How to add mobile money to a website

There are two levels of integration, to be chosen according to your sales volume.

Manual payment

The customer orders on the site, receives your payment details, makes the transfer from their phone and sends you the reference. You confirm the order by hand. It is simple and quick to set up, but takes time on every order.

Integrated payment

The customer pays without leaving the site, and the order is confirmed automatically. This integration goes through a merchant account with the operator, or through a payment aggregator that brings several services together. It involves administrative steps, to be allowed for in the project schedule.

Our advice: start manually to test demand, then automate once the number of orders justifies it.

Delivery, the other half of the sale

A customer hesitates less over price than over delivery. Your site must answer three questions clearly:

• where do you deliver? Antananarivo only, the main towns, the whole island;
• how long does it take and at what price? by area, shown before the order is confirmed;
• how can the order be tracked? a confirmation message, then a call or message at delivery time.

For bulky products or remote areas, offer a collection point.

WhatsApp and social media: allies, not competitors

Many sales today are closed by message, after a post on Facebook. An online store does not replace those conversations; it organises them:

• an up-to-date catalogue, with prices and availability, to share in one link;
• a WhatsApp button on every product page, to answer questions;
• orders recorded in one place, instead of getting lost in conversations.

A catalogue built for the phone

Most of your visitors browse the site on a mobile. A few simple rules:

• sharp but light photos, so as not to use up the customer's data;
• a price shown in ariary, with no calculation to do;
• an order in three steps at most, with no compulsory account.

What to display to reassure

Buying online from an unknown seller takes trust. Show your address, a phone number, your returns policy and customer reviews. A site without this information loses sales, whatever the quality of the products.

In practice

List your ten best-selling products, the areas you can deliver to and the payment methods your customers already use: that is enough to launch a first version of your store.

To support this kind of project on the ground, KPS Agency relies on its Madagascar agency, Akoraweb, which knows the island's payment and delivery habits. Tell us about your store: we send you a free quote within 48 hours. See also our guide to building a website in Madagascar and our web agency in Madagascar page.