By : Zanele Lazzari - Head of Enterprise Sales at Altron FinTech 

The way South Africans pay for goods is changing fast. Bank cards remain dominant, but QR codes, Buy Now Pay Later options, digital vouchers, store account cards, digital wallets, gift cards as well as debit order mandate processing are all gaining market share at the till. For retailers, each new payment method represents another opportunity to convert a browser into a buyer. 

The question isn't whether to accept these payment options. It's whether your infrastructure can handle them without multiplying complexity. 

Reframing the payment conversation 

For too long, payment acceptance has been treated as operational plumbing - something that should simply work in the background. This mindset leaves retailers managing separate integrations for each provider, training staff on multiple devices or platforms, and tasking finance teams with reconciling data from dozens of sources. 

The reality is different. Payment infrastructure now directly shapes customer experience, operational efficiency, and the quality of data available for business decisions. 

At Altron FinTech, our experience working with retailers has shown us a clear pattern: organisations that consolidate payment acceptance onto a unified infrastructure consistently outperform those managing fragmented systems. They convert more sales, reconcile faster, and adapt more easily when new payment methods emerge. 

The case for consolidation 

Consider what fragmented payment systems actually cost a business. There's the visible complexity: multiple terminals and/or platforms at checkout, staff switching between devices, and customers waiting while cashiers determine which machine handles their payment method. Then there's the back-office burden: finance teams pulling data from multiple platforms, manually matching transactions against settlement files, and spending days on reconciliation that should take hours. 

Unified multi-token acceptance solves both problems. When all payment types, bank cards, BNPLs, store accounts, digital vouchers and wallets, and QR payments flow through a single device and onto a single platform, operations simplify dramatically. Staff train on one system. Customers choose their preferred payment method from a single platform. Finance teams receive consolidated reporting, allowing them to focus on exceptions rather than verification. 

For retailers processing significant volumes, Altron FinTech handles operations processing in excess of 25 million transactions monthly through more than 70,000 acceptance points; these efficiencies translate directly into cost savings and a faster financial close. 

Staying ahead of payment innovation 

The retail payment landscape won't stop evolving. Buy Now Pay Later services, originally built for e-commerce, now expect in-store acceptance. Digital wallets targeting specific communities are gaining traction. QR-based payments continue to grow. 

Retailers on unified platforms can adopt these options without launching separate integration projects for each provider. As regulators such as PASA and the FSCA establish clearer frameworks, particularly for BNPL, adaptable infrastructure becomes even more valuable. 

This flexibility matters beyond compliance. Younger consumers, aged 18 to 35, increasingly prefer digital and mobile payment methods. Their behaviour today signals how the broader market will shop in three to five years. Retailers capturing this demand now are building loyalty that competitors will struggle to win back. 

Financial inclusion opens new markets 

South Africa's payment modernisation agenda emphasises broadening access to digital payments. For retailers, this translates directly into a commercial opportunity. 

Not every customer carries a bank card. Digital wallets, community-based payment options, and alternative credit products enable retailers to capture sales that might otherwise default to cash or not occur at all. Payment flexibility helps customers manage affordability; when shoppers can split purchases across store accounts, layby, or instalment options, they're more likely to complete transactions. 

Our goal at Altron FinTech is straightforward: ensure that a consumer in a spaza shop has access to the same payment choices as someone shopping at a large mainstream retailer. Unified infrastructure makes this possible without requiring retailers to build separate capabilities for each market segment. 

The strategic imperative 

The message for retail executives is clear: payment infrastructure has moved from back-office concern to strategic capability. It now affects customer experience, operational efficiency, and competitive positioning in equal measure. 

The retailers investing in unified payment infrastructure today are solving an operational problem while positioning themselves to capture growth as South African consumers continue to diversify how they pay. 

The opportunity is there. The question is whether your payment infrastructure is ready to capture it.