Online payment methods in Kenya: How businesses can accept digital payments

Whether you’re a Kenyan SME, ecommerce store or online merchant, one of the most important things to consider is whether you’re offering the right kind of online payment methods. This is key to ensuring a smooth customer journey and reducing the number of abandoned checkout carts for your business.

Does your payment infrastructure offer the ability for customers to pay via mobile money as well as international cards? DPO Pay by Network offers online payment methods that cater to mobile-money wallets such as M-PESA and MTN MoMo, as well as international solutions such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express. It also allows payment links to be sent via existing communication channels such as WhatsApp and email.

The types of payment methods a Kenyan business should offer

By choosing the right payment gateway, your business can give Kenyan customers a variety of ways to pay digitally. This decreases drop-off at checkout. Local customers can stick to familiar mobile-money channels, while international customers can use global debit and credit cards. This is helpful, in particular, for the tourism sector as DPO Pay offers options for all types of travel and tourism payments .

How to set up online payments in Kenya

Choose a payment gateway: Compare payment methods, security, accepted currencies, fees and payment integration options.
Complete merchant onboarding: Provide your business information and go through a verification process.
Choose payment methods: Decide what you want to provide your customers with at checkout.
Select an integration method: This could be via a plug-in or custom API. DPO Pay offers a wide range of payment integration options.
Test payments before going live: Make sure that you’ve tested all payment scenarios, such as successful and declined.
Monitor all transactions: When you are live, you will need to monitor successful and failed payments, as well as refunds and settlements.

If your business doesn’t have a full ecommerce website, you can send your customers a payment link that allows them to pay online seamlessly.

What to look for when choosing a payment provider

Businesses should consider the following when searching for an online payment provider:

Does it offer local solutions (such as mobile money) that align with what Kenyan customers already use?

Does it support international cards and currencies?

Does it have sufficient security authentication and controls?

Does payment integration align smoothly with the existing app, ecommerce platform or website?

Does it provide payment links for businesses that don’t have full ecommerce checkouts?

Does it have a comprehensive reporting system?

Does its settlement timeline work for the business?

Frequently asked questions

What is the most secure payment method?

There is no single answer to this question. Security relies on fraud controls, authentication and payment infrastructure, among other things. By choosing a well-established payment gateway such as DPO Pay, businesses can provide their customers with a secure checkout system.

What are the best alternatives to PayPal in Kenya?

There are a variety of alternatives. Which one to use depends on each business’s specific requirements. Companies in Kenya should choose providers that support both local methods such as M-PESA and Airtel, and international methods such as Visa and Mastercard. The best alternative will also depend on customer location, currency and integration technicalities.

What are the different types of online payments?

Mobile money, payment links, bank-based payments, and debit and credit cards are all examples of digital payment methods. Businesses in Kenya can choose to offer a wide range of payment methods to their customers through a payment provider such as DPO Pay by Network.