Supply chains

How to improve adoption among merchants

This study finds that perceived value addition for the customers and usefulness of technology are important determinants of adoption of mobile wallet technology among merchants. 

Global evidence on contribution of MSMEs

New ILO study reveals seven in 10 workers are self-employed or in small businesses. The study also finds that an average of 62% of employment (in the 99 countries studied) is in the informal sector. It calls for creating an enabling environment for these businesses and supporting them through access to finance and digital infrastructure.

How mobile phones improve market efficiency?

This paper finds that mobile phone network rollout, that allowed traders better access to market information, led to a 10-13% reduction in price dispersion of maize crop.

Leveraging Digital Financial Solutions to Promote Formal Business Participation

This paper explores economic informality and how it relates to digital financial inclusion. It focuses specifically on the potential role that digital financial services–including those accessed through mobile phones and the internet can play in encouraging businesses to formalize their operations.

Tienda Pago’s Digital Solution for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

This report discusses Tienda Pago’s Digital Solution for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods.

bKash: Revolutionizing Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh?

This study discusses the emergence of bKash as the m-banking pioneer in Bangladesh. It focuses on the services provided by bKash and its current operating scenario in Bangladesh. bKash’s str…

Blockchain and supply chain management integration: a systematic review of the literature

“Purpose This paper aims to identify, analyse and organise the literature about blockchains in supply chain management (SCM) context (blockchain–SCM integration) and proposes an agenda for …

Understanding merchant payments landscape 

A new Karandaaz study shows that around 95% of merchants in Pakistan do not accept digital payments. To promote adoption, it calls for creating awareness among users, better infrastructure, interoperability and reliability of services.

Mobile-delivered economic ID for inclusion of SMEs

Unregistered SMEs account for 65% of Nigeria’s GDP. Most of them often struggle to demonstrate their personal and business credentials to service providers and customers. This GSMA research finds that there is a need for new approaches to identity and mobile-delivered ‘economic ID’ solution holds promise.

The Effect of Payment Choices on Online Retail: Evidence from the 2016 Indian Demonetization

This Harvard Business School paper concludes that consumers who switch to digital payments maintain their purchase frequency but spend more and are less likely to return their purchases.

Perspectives from SME banking leaders

IFC report aggregates responses from 114 SME banking executives serving more than 17.5 million small businesses.

What explains low adoption of digital payment technologies? Evidence from small-scale merchants in Jaipur, India

New research from India states that low adoption of digital payments among small retailers is not a result of supply-side barriers, such as affordability and availability. It is due to deman…

How one platform connects cities and boosts small businesses

How can platform approaches drive the digitization of cities? Learn how CIVICO and Accion are helping customers and small businesses, in Bogota, Mexico City, and Santiago, connect and transact.

Mexican customers want their financial service providers to offer convenience

2 out of 3 Mexicans now have access to formal financial products yet most of them still prefer cash. This insights2impact report suggests that to sway consumers, you have to provide them with the same convenience, flexibility, and sense of belonging as informal and social alternatives.

Cash usage behaviour and its implication for digital payments: A case of Ghana and Nigeria's smallholder cassava value chain

Education programs and awareness campaigns can help improve mobile money usage among smallholder cassava farmers in Nigeria and Ghana. Better agent network and incentives may help too. Read …

Using digital tools to grow africulture and financial inclusion in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has a sole mobile network provider and a banking sector that is closed to foreign ownership. Does that make it easy for the government to take a rural-first approach to digitization? Learn about it more in this USAIDFeed The Future brief that also mentions the Alliance.

Mapping the Merchant's Mind: An Analysis of Digital Payment Behaviors by Fixed Store Merchants in Jaipur

A year and a half post demonetization, only about 5% of India’s ~60 million MSMEs own digital acceptance devices. This report provides a deeper context and recommendations on small business profiles, infrastructure, needs, behaviors, and perceptions.

Is mobile payment still relevant in the fintech era?

This study analyzes whether mobile payments are still relevant for the fintech industry by comparing three mobile payment projects – Oi Paggo in Brazil, TCASH in Indonesia, and M-PESA in Kenya.

Bridging the Digital Divide and Supporting Increased Digital Trade: Scoping Study

The global economy is experiencing important technological shifts, with the rise of digital technology a key driver. This can be seen today in the rapid growth of the digital economy, broadl…

Prerequisites to digitizing the agricultural last mile