Stitch launches WigWag, a social commerce payments platform for SMEs

Stitch has launched a payments product called WigWag which will allow South African merchants to accept payments from local and international cards via a unique link sent by email/SMS.

South African fintech startup Stitch has launched WigWag, a social commerce payment platform which would enable small businesses to accept digital payments via a unique payment link.

“With WigWag, small and growing businesses can begin accepting local and international card payments in minutes, without the need for a website or developer resources. They simply need to send a unique payment link to customers in any chat or email,” the company said in a statement.

While Stitch offers scalable custom payment solutions to large enterprises, WigWag will be focused more on small businesses. After registering for the services, merchants will generate a link for a customer with the amount to be paid and the expiry time of the link. The link can then be sent via email, SMS, WhatsApp or social media chat where the customer will click on it to make a payment.

“We created WigWag specifically with these small business clients in mind. Now anyone can have access to reliable payments, powered by the Stitch API, and offer their customers a truly seamless experience,” said Danielle Laity, WigWag product manager at Stitch.

Responding to a question from TechCabal on the charges associated with the product, Laity stated that WigWag will charge 2.95% of the amount that merchants get paid. For customers paying you with a non-South African card, WigWag will charge 3.4% of the purchase amount to supposedly cover the foreign exchange. Additionally, each payout will garner an R2 charge, all fees excluding VAT.

According to data by Deloitte, 51% of surveyed SMEs indicated they had encountered strong interest from customers in making payments with a card, showing the potential of a solution like WigWag in facilitating such payments. SMEs make up 29% of all businesses in South Africa.

Stitch emerged from stealth in February 2021 and expanded into Nigeria in October 2021. The firm raised $21 million in Series A funding in February 2022 to expand its payments API product.