How to grow your payments app with phone shops and airtime sellers
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Phone shops and airtime sellers see a steady stream of customers buying top-ups, accessories and handsets. Many of these payments are small and frequent, and bigger ones like handsets are often paid in parts. A payments app that handles both well can win these shops, and they are already places where people come to sort out their phones.
Talk to shop owners and customers
Ask local phone shops, airtime sellers and their customers:
- How do customers pay for top-ups and accessories today?
- How do people pay for a handset they cannot buy outright?
- How much cash do you handle in a day, and how do you bank it?
- What would make paying quicker at the counter?
Make small payments quick
A QR code or payment link at the counter lets customers pay for accessories and services in seconds, with less cash to count at the end of the day.
Let customers pay for handsets in parts
The shop sets up a payment link for each part of a handset payment, with the total and the dates written clearly, and hands the phone over when it is paid.
Grow through the counter
Phone shops help people set up apps every day. A shop that likes your app can help its customers sign up on the spot.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about local agents?
The local agents guide covers how agents help people pay in and take out money.
Local agents →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.