Apple Pay now available with Stitch

We recently launched our digital wallets solution and now offer enterprise businesses in South Africa the ability to accept online payments via Apple Pay, along with Samsung Wallet and Google Pay.

Apple Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet offering that allows users to make fast, seamless and secure payments from compatible Apple devices such as smartphones and smart watches, and verify payments seamlessly using biometrics.

As discussed in our recent article, digital wallets are one of the fastest growing payment methods in South Africa. 60% of respondents to our recent e-commerce consumer survey said they were likely to use digital wallets to make a payment in the coming year - and around 50% had already.

For enterprise businesses looking to attract and retain ever-evolving consumers and remain relevant in an increasingly competitive market - especially in the e-commerce space - accepting payments via Apple Pay is a must.

What is Apple Pay? | Digital Wallets

Apple Pay is Apple’s e-wallet offering. It allows users to store their payment information on their device and use it to make payments contactlessly in physical stores or in one click through payment gateways online. Payments are verified using biometrics - the fingerprint or facial recognition on their Apple device - or else using the device passcode.

Apple Pay makes use of near-field communication (NFC) technology to enable users to make contactless payments in store, while Apple Wallet allows them to store their card details securely in a digital wallet and make a payment through an online payment gateway, without the need to enter their details manually or verify using 3DS. That means less steps in the checkout process, which often leads to greater conversion.

Completing a transaction with Apple Pay is simple: when prompted to pay, users choose Apple Pay as their preferred payment method, then select the card they wish to use and verify their identity using their device’s biometrics (fingerprint scanning or facial recognition) functionality, or by entering the device passcode. Once verified, the transaction can complete. The whole process takes little more than a second.

What are the benefits of accepting Apple Pay?

Similar to other digital wallets, the primary benefits that Apple Pay offers are a more seamless and convenient way to pay, and enhanced security. It is a secure payment method with low fraud risk, but also one that has a frictionless payment experience, so customers get the best of both worlds.

This convenience in turn benefits businesses, as customers are more likely to shop where they have more convenient and flexible payment options. A wider range of options generally leads to more customers, better conversion rates and higher spend. In particular, customers in South Africa are now demanding digital wallets as a payment method, meaning businesses that don’t offer this will soon be on the back foot vs their competitors.

In Apple Pay’s case, businesses also benefit from the fact that Apple is a premium brand, especially in South Africa. Offering Apple Pay is likely to attract customers with higher levels of disposable income and spending power.

How Apple Pay integrates with your current payment stack

Offering Apple Pay requires managing two integrations: one with the wallet provider themselves (in this case Apple) and another with the payment processing service. 

These two parties are independent of one another, but both need to be working correctly in order to accept payments. Integration is an ongoing process as both wallet providers and payment processors regularly update their requirements to maintain security, brand standards and more.

For businesses that use Stitch as their online payment service provider to manage payment infrastructure, Stitch provides access to all popular digital wallets, and manages payment processing through a single integration - whether in an app, on the web, with a client-hosted page or leveraging our hosted pages. We offer a pre-bundled set of SDKs, and offer hands-on support from integration through optimisation.

How to get started on Apple Pay with Stitch

The Stitch team works closely with our clients throughout onboarding, ensuring that their payment infrastructure is correctly configured to meet their particular needs and suit their customers. Once onboarded, we make it easy to manage all payment methods through a single integration, saving significant development and engineering resources. We work with clients beyond onboarding to continually optimise their payments solutions on an ongoing basis. 

Stitch is designed specifically for enterprise businesses at scale, and our pre-built payment flows are optimised to increase conversion. Our digital wallets solutions are built on top of our industry-leading card solution, which makes it easier for enterprise businesses to process card payments and increase conversion thanks to built-in redundancies via multiple direct bank integrations, and optimised user journeys.

Digital wallets such as Apple Pay have quickly reached mass adoption since their introduction just a few years ago, and it seems likely that Apple will continue to innovate, making their products an ever more critical part of their customers’ financial lives. 

Offering Apple Pay is a no-brainer for any B2C business. By offering customers the payment options that they already use and trust, businesses can drive a virtuous cycle that sees customers buying more and returning more often.