Mom and Pop stores – The new battleground for Fintechs in Asia and Africa
Mom & Pop stores are the new battlegrounds for Fintech in Asia & Africa ?Mom & Pop stores are increasingly becoming the most important element in the Fintech strategy . And good reason for that :
a.) Increase the breadth for the Mom & Pop stores
Many Mom & Pop stores are constrained by their current sourcing/distribution reach . By being a part of the larger ecosystem through partnership with the Fintech players , the mom & pop stores have access to new products which may have been difficult on their own . Thus increasing their overall ticket size and Revenue potential.
b.) Mom and Pop stores As Digital facilitators / Agents
Many countries are still cash prioritized where the end customers do not have banking access or prefer to deal in cash . In this case ,the Mom & Pop stores act as payment facilitators as well as Delivery collection points in some cases ( e.g for some Ecommerce players )
c.) Upgrading the Moms & Pops as a digital facilitator”/ service centre “where the customers can pay the mom and pop stores but these centres then complete the transaction on behalf of these customers using their own digital wallets . This helps add an increased revenue stream to these Mom and Pop stores which is not dependent on the size/ scale of the normal FMCG/ white goods these stores normally deal with .3. Mom & Pop stores as access points to Financial services
These Mom & Pop stores can also act as local intelligence / dispatch for other advanced Financial services e.g Micro lending / Micro insurance etc. In many countries the regulation is still underway but there is huge potential for leveraging the Mom & Pop stores as the final last mile centre for dispatch / collection.
So those Digital service players who understand this and are able to capture this effectively will benefit a lot in the next few years .
One company which has done that well is Bukalapak in the booming Indonesian market and an interesting conversation with their President Terry.
