On the demand side, the high influx of travelers and the growth of savvy local shoppers equipped with debit and credit cards have warranted local stores to start thinking about offering online shopping. On the supply side, local retailers strive to keep up with technology to offer better shopping experiences, and it seems like the right direction for them is to embrace the drive to support online shopping.

To provide an online shopping experience, an eCommerce website is essential. More than before, we are receiving requests daily for eCommerce solutions. The common questions we receive from business owners who are planning on taking this leap are as follows.

• Is this possible to do this in Guyana?
• Will my local bank be sufficient, or will I need an overseas bank account?
• What will this cost me?

Is this possible in Guyana?

Yes, GxMedia has set up a number of eCommerce websites in the last few years. Some of them are Starr Computers, Riaz Computers, MerchantRUs, etc. The setup is quite simple, and all that is required is an eCommerce website with a solid payment gateway.

A payment gateway is a platform where shoppers securely enter their payment information to checkout on your eCommerce website. The payment gateway reads the credit card information, validates the payment, and remits the payment to your bank account.

Some popular payment gateway providers are Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, Square, Verifone (formerly 2Checkout), etc.

Will my local bank be sufficient, or will I need an overseas bank account?

This largely depends on the payment gateway and how they remit payments. We have found that some of the payment gateways are not able to remit to a local bank account in Guyana. In cases where local remittance is not possible, a US-based bank account might be warranted. The payment gateways we have worked with in the past are Verifone, Paypal, Ayden, and Stripe.

What will an eCommerce solution cost?

Both one-time and recurring charges are incurred when you invest in an eCommerce website. The one-time cost for the website design and implementation is US$1,895. The annual recurring cost for hosting will be around US$160 per year (on the lower end) to about US$300 per month (on the higher end). The cost for hosting varies, and it depends on the number of visitors and hits you have coming to your website. For about 60,000 hits per month, shared hosting at around US$160 per year from Bluehost might be good. If you get millions of hits per month, you will want to consider premium hosting at WPengine.com.

Note: Website Hits Vs. Visits (from differencebetween.net): A hit is often a request made to a website for a particular file to be downloaded from the server. When a user clicks on a web page, regardless of the number of files downloaded, it is called a visit.

Charges from the payment gateway can vary, and it can be subscription-based, per transaction, or both. To get a good idea about the cost, see the following table of some of the payment gateways we have worked with (see websites for more updated details):

Verifone Monthly cost: Free Recurring Cost: 3.5% plus 0.35 cents per transaction

PayPal Monthly cost: Free Recurring Cost: 3.49% plus 0.49 cents per transaction

Ayden Monthly cost: Free Recurring Cost: 0.6% plus 12 cents per transaction

Stripe Monthly cost: Free Recurring Cost: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction

 

Many local retailers also have us set up cash on delivery and Mobile Money from GTT as checkout payment options together with credit/debit cards on their eCommerce Websites.

In this article, we have covered the essentials for establishing an eCommerce website in Guyana. Let us hear from you if you have more questions or if you would like to engage us to build your new eCommerce solution.

Girendra Persaud: October 2022.