Credits: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

WhatsApp added a special payment button to the chat bar. This button allows you to send money to a user in the chat without having to switch to another tab. Now, the Facebook-owned platform has also added a UPI QR code scanner feature for Indian users. With the new feature, you can directly pay a store, merchant or other user by simply scanning the QR code. The scanner allows you to send payments to users who are not in your contact list. For those who don’t know, the QR code is a square barcode that we scan with the camera of our smartphone to make a payment. Popular payment apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, Amazon Pay and a few others already have a QR code scanner.

The QR code scanner is now available for all WhatsApp users on Android and iOS smartphones. The feature will only work for you if you have linked your UPI ID to WhatsApp payment service.

If you want to know how to send a payment via QR code on WhatsApp, you can follow these steps:
1. Open WhatsApp on your smartphone.2. Tap the Scan payment QR code button in the Payments section.
3. From the camera, focus on the QR code you want to use to send a payment.
4. You will see a “UPI ID Found” popup with the name and UPI ID of the user whose QR code you scanned.5. Enter your UPI PIN and press Submit.6. You can also scan an image of the QR code stored in your phone’s gallery.

WhatsApp Payment was launched in India in 2018 under the trial and after receiving approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the service was officially launched to the public in 2020. It offers a system of real-time payment with over 227 banks and is available to all users across the country.

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Credits: sowetanlive.co.za

Facebook’s messaging service WhatsApp introduced a new business search feature in its app on Wednesday. This allows WhatsApp users to find stores and services through an in-app directory, is the latest feature from Facebook to boost e-commerce with its services. Matt Idema, Facebook’s vice president of business messaging, said in an interview that this may be the primary way people start a business process on WhatsApp.
Unlike Facebook and Instagram, WhatsApp doesn’t place ads in its app. According to Idema, companies used to advertise their WhatsApp numbers on packaging or websites, or used Facebook ads to get users to chat on WhatsApp.

The messaging service is increasingly appealing to business users with a specialized app for small businesses and an API, or some kind of software interface, for larger companies to connect their systems and generate revenue.

As online retail sales continued to boom during the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook has brought in-app purchase capabilities to all of its apps. In June, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook’s Shops feature would be extended to WhatsApp in several countries. In recent years, WhatsApp has also introduced shopping tools like product catalogs and shopping carts.

WhatsApp said the new test would include thousands of businesses in categories including groceries, retail and local services in certain São Paulo neighborhoods. Idema said that India and Indonesia are good next candidates to expand the feature.

The company has faced backlash from users due to confusion over privacy updates and has been fined by the Irish Data Protection Authority for violating privacy. Idema does not rule out WhatsApp introducing in-app advertising in the future. He said that there is definitely a path to advertising, which is Facebook’s core business model, which I think will be part of WhatsApp’s business model in one way or another in the long run. According to WhatsApp, around a million advertisers currently use Facebook and Instagram “Click to WhatsApp” ads to drive users to the messaging app.

Idema said WhatsApp, which bought Facebook for $19 billion in a landmark deal in 2014 but has been slow to monetize its features, is also interested in non-advertising models such as developing software that allows businesses to manage their services in the Facebook applications.

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Credits: thehindu.com

EV Plug, a new self-developed app that allows users to find the nearest electric vehicle charging stations. It is India’s first independent EV charging station aggregator app with 1000+ verified listings across 60+ cities in India.

The Delhi-based startup believes that there is a strong need among EV owners to seek a single platform for verified EV charging station listings as the EV charging infrastructure in India expands.

Manish Narang, co-founder of EV Plugs, said he expects the market to be flooded with EVs of all categories and EV charging stations. However, it will take another few decades before you can safely find a gas station a few kilometers away, similar to diesel and gasoline. EV Plugs does just that. Electric vehicle owners can install the app, select their vehicles and find charging stations compatible with their electric vehicles.

The app provides directions from the user’s current location to the selected charging station. In the future, the app will allow EV owners to check EV charging station availability in real time, reserve slots and pay for EV charging via wallet, UPI, online banking or debit/credit cards.

Users can also add EV charging points, photos and descriptions and rate these stations. Electric vehicle owners can access the free app on iOS and Android. The app includes electric vehicle charging stations from brands such as EESL, Tata Power, Statiq, Magenta, Ather.

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Credits: businesswire.com

Avito, Russia’s leading online classifieds platform, overtake US-based Craigslist as the world’s most visited classifieds website based on performance in November 2021. According to Similarweb, the total number of visits to Avito reached 279.6 million in November. Users spent an average of almost 12 minutes per visit on the platform and viewed more than 11 pages of ads. Pages per visit is a popular engagement metric that is calculated by dividing the total number of website visits by the total number of visitors.

Avito has also become the world leader in terms of total post count, with over 86 million ads currently active on the site. Craigslist is the only one that does not disclose the total number of ads posted on its platform.

Avito was also ranked 14th in Similarweb’s global e-commerce and shopping website rankings, and was named first among Russian online marketplaces for displaying the best behavioral metrics among Russian services.

In October, the Avito mobile app took first place in Russia in various ratings of domestic shopping apps from the App Annie analytics service. The Avito mobile app was ranked as a leader based on the number of active users, the total number of sessions, the time users spent using the app, and the total number of downloads since the app was released.

Vladimir Pravdivy, CEO of Avito said:

Avito is a unique phenomenon in Russia: It has become a household name, like Google. Avito has also become a way of life for many Russians and there is even a new profession that has come out of activity on our platform called Avitolog. All this has been possible because Avito is the largest and safest platform in the country to satisfy a wide range of daily needs, from buying and selling goods and cars, to searching for work and services, renting a house and much more.

Avito is not only a favorite tourist destination for all Russians, but also an important platform for the development of small, medium and large companies. Our focus on creating value for our customers, coupled with our constant innovation has allowed us to become number one in Russia and now in the world. But we are not stopping there and we will continue to move forward and develop new models to strengthen our leadership in Russia and in the world.

About Avito

Avito is Russia’s leading classifieds service with nearly 50 million monthly users and more than 86 million active ads posted on its platform. It is a well-known name across the country for providing secure and convenient transactions for individuals and small and medium-sized businesses. Users can find and sell a wide range of products, as well as list jobs, services, property and more. And by giving used items a second life, Avito users help the environment. The company estimates that in 2020 goods traded on the platform saved around 18 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, enough material to create 23 new landfills. Avito is an integrated service that offers delivery through Avito Delivery, which allows users to shop throughout Russia. Avito was ranked as the most visited classifieds site in the world by website analytics platform Similarweb in November 2021.

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There is no question that public school students have experienced severe learning losses since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. School closures, distance learning and reduced class hours have resulted in unavoidable losses. The exceptions are students who have received additional learning support beyond what their public schools provide, whether from parents, grandparents, older siblings, tutors, learning centers or online resources.

The Northwest Assessment Association (NWEA), a research-based nonprofit organization that assesses student progress and skills, recently released a report on learning during COVID-19. It showed that students began the 2021-2022 school year with a 9 to 11 percentage point drop in math and a 3 to 7 percentage point drop in reading. Learning loss was greater for Hispanic, Native American, and Black students than for Asian and White students. Furthermore, very poor students had higher than average learning loss.

Learning loss has important economic implications. According to an analysis by Dan Goldhaber, Thomas Kane, and Andrew McEachin, the gap is $43,800 in lifetime earnings per student. Multiply that by the 50 million students currently enrolled in public schools and the number is staggering: $2 trillion. Of course, the repercussions not only harm our students today, but will also follow them into adulthood.

Goldhaber, Kane, and McEachin provide additional information on how long it will take for students to recover. For example, they found that in fourth and fifth grades, an additional eight to 10 weeks of instruction would be needed to make up for the loss. In grades six to eight, where the material is more complex and the rate of student progress is slower, it would take 14 and 19 weeks of additional instruction to make up for these losses in reading and arithmetic.

Parents want this learning loss corrected. Parents are no longer happy with the ineffective one-size-fits-all approach: 95% of parents support personalized instruction as the key to offsetting student learning losses and improving K-12 education. Parents understand that each child is unique, with different strengths and interests. It is illogical to conclude that all children learn in the same way and at the same rate, but that is how our current system works.

This leads to a central question: what stands in the way of the personalization of education? With $800 billion spent each year on K-12 public education (added by nearly $200 billion in federal funding during the pandemic), the problem is clearly not a lack of money. It can’t be a lack of technology, either, as virtually every student has an Internet-connected device during the school day. What ultimately stands in the way is a stagnant system, with its lack of leadership and innovation and entrenched interests that perpetuate the status quo.

We can and must do better for our students. What will it take to make up for lost learning and put America’s K-12 education system on a better track? It will take a state that leads by example, a state that shows the courage to bring about policy change that challenges vested interests, removes barriers to innovation, and opens the door to a new generation of education leaders committed to personalized learning.

These policy changes must address everything from increasing competition to universal school choice, allowing students to track funding, encouraging and expanding education savings accounts, supporting schools to charter, granting credit for extracurricular learning activities, reshaping the school day and school year and revision of class levels. and graduation requirements. In addition, changes need to be made to curriculum, teaching methods, assessments, teacher and administrator certification, teacher seniority pay, and school board selection processes. Giving schools and districts the flexibility to innovate is fundamental to making the necessary reforms. And these changes will only be possible if we change the way we select and train educators.

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Credits: telegraphindia.com

Online tutoring courses have seen a massive business boom due to the pandemic, with each tutoring platform trying to market itself to students by offering ready-to-use study materials, modern teaching methods, cutting-edge technologies and new innovations in lesson plans.

Here are some virtual tutoring platforms that students have grown accustomed to.

BYJU’S:

BYJU’S has launched similar online tutoring models in India. Along with its featured brand ambassador and captivating ads, BYJU’S offers recorded sessions and one-on-one tutoring modules for students.

Toppr:

The award-winning educational technology platform offers its services through a downloadable application. It is a comprehensive learning platform that prepares students from grades V to XII for both school exams and competitive exams. Toppr covers 17 subject curricula of 22 tips. It also prepares students for 58 types of exams, including NEET, JEE and Olympics. The platform also values the academic brilliance of students. It has all the Indian tests based on which students can get scholarships worth up to Rs.10 crore.

Meritnation:

Meritnation has been one of the established names in the field of tutoring since 2009. From 2014 it has been an online platform with a mix of paid and free content for students. Students from the ICSE and CBSE boards as well as the state agencies of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have the opportunity to purchase courses. The platform also offers specialized courses for Grade IX students to prepare for entrance exams.

Eduzyte:
Eduzyte keeps it simple. On this platform, students start with a free demo lesson. You can then choose a tutor from thousands of educators around the world, pay for sessions and attend classes. The professional tutor service is available for group and individual sessions, depending on the student’s choice. The variety of courses available includes state agencies, international agencies and central agencies. Eduzyte also offers language courses, competition courses and computer courses.

EdGuru:

EdGuru provides vital information about a student’s progress and parents of enrolled students meet regularly with teachers to stay up-to-date. Experienced educators are assigned to students in Grade V and above. Like most other learning platforms, EdGuru offers classes for ICSE and CBSE students. But the site also covers all the West Bengal State Board issues. Students have the option of choosing Bengali or English as the language of instruction.

Notebook:

The evolving Notebook educational technology platform supports students with short explainer videos that students can watch to learn. The mobile learning space provides access to video and text based instruction for students from CBSE, ICSE and State Councils in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Students can also learn on their own by watching chapter summary videos and reading notes. It promises to soon offer material for 16 boards in English and 10 national languages.

Tutopia:

Tutopia offers English and Bengali classes with a focus on boarding students in West Bengal. Currently, the platform is aimed at students from grades VIII to XI of the Madhyamik Council. The content of the Madhyamik Councils Classes VII-XI and the ICSE and CBSE Councils (Classes VIII-X) will be available on the website shortly. The online platform emerged in the wake of the pandemic and allowed students to access videos and notes on a variety of subjects and topics. The platform also offers training outside of the preparatory tests. With readily available materials and tests, Tutopia students can also learn on their own.

UrbanPro:

UrbanPro is a holistic tutoring platform that goes beyond the classroom. It also allows students to interact with professionals who train in various hobbies such as photography, singing, yoga, etc. Students can also connect with teachers of various international and Indian languages on UrbanPro. This unique platform acts more like a directory for students to connect with their tutor or coach of choice.

Edook:

A mixture of online and offline tutoring is available at Edook. Initially, it was a tutoring center, but now the platform also offers professional tutors. Students enrolling in courses at Edook are required to state their needs, based on the professional tutors assigned to them. The number of lessons, subjects and timetables can be adapted to the student’s needs.

Edu-Care:

The decades-old trusted tutoring center has been around since 1991 and now offers online courses. Students of all grades and boards are matched with tutors equipped for their academic needs. Highly qualified educators with Edu-Care can also prepare students for entrance exams.

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Credits: newsheads.in

It is important to compare payment gateways and payment processors to understand their key differences and choose a solid option for your business needs.

What is a Payment Processor?

A payment processor is responsible for processing customer transactions. It transmits the customer’s card payment information to the issuing and acquiring banks. It also helps eliminate the risk of fraudulent transactions by following strict security measures.

In an offline transaction, a payment processor provides businesses with a point-of-sale interface such as card dispensers and other devices.

What is a payment gateway?

While payment processors process information, a payment gateway is responsible for passing payment data to the processor.

It helps connect the payment processor to merchant accounts and card companies, essentially turning it into an online POS terminal for e-commerce sites.

The payment gateway authenticates a customer’s digital payment details and then passes the payment details to the payment processor.

While a payment processor facilitates transactions between two parties, a payment gateway is responsible for capturing the customer’s payment details and returning them to the payment processor.

What is a payment aggregator?

A payment aggregator, also known as an acquirer, allows merchants to accept payments through different digital modes without setting up separate integrations. If you are an offline business owner and all your payments are made with a personal card, you do not need a payment gateway to process payments.

Let’s say you own an online business and want to enable online transactions for customers. In this case, you need both a payment processor and a payment gateway to enable online payments.

Let’s see how a payment cycle works when only one payment processor is used instead of using both the payment processor and the payment gateway.

Use of a payment processor for transactions:

1. The payment processor provides the merchant with a payment terminal.

2. The terminal authenticates the customer’s card data and sends the payment information to the issuing bank for payment approval.

3. Once the issuing bank approves or rejects the payment, it sends this information to the payment processor, which is then transmitted to the payment terminal.

4. If the issuing bank has approved the transaction, the payment details will be shared with the acquiring bank.

5. The transaction is now complete.

Using a payment processor and payment gateway for transactions:

1. After customers select a product or service, they are directed to the checkout to submit payment information.

2. The payment gateway authenticates the customer’s account by matching the account number data with the issuer’s card data.

3. While the payment processor is responsible for transmitting payment information to the card network and vice versa, it also confirms the validity of the card and verifies compatibility with the secure 3D platform.

4. A payer authentication request is sent to the access control server where the CVV is verified.

5. The access control server generates an authentication value of the account holder, which is then transmitted by the merchant to the acquirer.

6. The merchant sends a request to the payment aggregator and the payment aggregator forwards the request to the issuing bank.

7. If the client’s account has sufficient funds, the requested amount will be debited and transferred to the merchant’s account.

How to choose a suitable payment gateway for your business?

Just as it is important to choose a reliable payment processor, it is just as important to choose a payment gateway. Here are some things to check to make an informed decision.

a. Payment Method: Your payment gateway system must be able to process multiple payment methods, such as digital wallets, UPI and prepaid cards, etc., with the exception of credit and debit cards.

b. Reliable and Fast Support: Choose a payment gateway that offers you dedicated support to ensure a smooth onboarding experience and a short learning curve.

c. Personalized Checkout Experience: Customers love a personalized view, and a personalized checkout experience also gives your business greater brand recall; So go for a payment gateway integration that gives you the option to add your brand logo, colors, and font on the checkout page.

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Credits: itweb.co.za

In 2020, the South African e-commerce market grew by 66% and is now projected to be worth R225 billion by 2025. As small businesses enter digital commerce, so does the search for online payment methods that offer security and reliability at a pace that maintains realistic profit margins. Now, fintech firm iKhokha hopes to bridge that gap with its first foray into online payments.

Known for its card machines, iKhokha is now venturing into e-commerce with the launch of the iKhokha payment gateway. The payment solution is the first in a series of products from the stable of iK Pay Online, a proposed suite of e-commerce solutions for small businesses. According to Andrew Roy, iKhokha’s product manager, the move to online payments grew out of a need to enable merchants to process payments for all facets of their business under one iKhokha umbrella.

Roy says it’s part of a larger e-commerce strategy. This is the first in a series of products that we will be developing over the next five years. We’ve found that the majority of our merchants are WooCommerce and WordPress users, so we thought that was a good place to start. Although identifying the opportunity was the first step, iKhokha still had to allocate the necessary resources, improve skills and complete the construction of the online payment gateway within a tight deadline.

Roy says: They not only built the product, they also built the team. They ensured the team composition had the full-stack development skills needed to bring the product to life. It was really about bringing team members to the heart of the project and empowering them to quickly contribute to the solution. The result is a WooCommerce and WordPress compatible payment plugin built in-house in just under nine months.

Roy says they built a microservices-based payment architecture that included integrating with their acquiring bank to process payment messages and creating the test environments needed for the solution. Safety is their top priority. They needed to ensure their solution was PCI compliant and 3D secure. They also had to ensure their architecture could accommodate large volumes to accommodate their dealers.

To test the solution in a real environment, the iKhokha team contacted well-known e-commerce merchants in their database and offered them the lowest transaction fees in Africa to join the beta program before launching it. Roy added that they had identified a beta group from a small subset of merchants who were being offered lower transaction fees to test the solution. They then made a small number of iterative improvements over time until they felt they had received enough feedback to be confident in the product’s robustness and security.

Recently released in beta, the WordPress payment gateway plugin has already processed over a quarter of a million rand in business transactions. iKhokha aims to increase product adoption in the coming months by offering small businesses competitive transaction prices, enabling them to sustainably participate in the digital economy and benefit from the growth of e-commerce.

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credits: businesstoday.in

Social commerce platform Meesho said the platform sold more than 45 lakh headphones in 2021. India’s love for ethnic fashion was also featured with fabrics such as sarees, kurtis and dresses.

Contrary to the idea that shopping was limited to weekends, Indians indulged in online shopping during the week and women led the way. According to the company, 2PM to 3PM was the most popular time to shop at Meesho. While Port Blair was the main demand for kitchen towels and linen in Goa, Srinagar loved its onion hair oil and mangalsutras were very popular in Hyderabad.

Meesho said the number of direct customers to the platform has increased 15 folds from last year. 71% of all new users were from level 3 regions such as Malkangiri (Orissa), Baikunthpur (Chhattisgarh), Munnar (Kerala), Mankachar (Assam), Khalari (Jharkhand), Lalganj (Uttar Pradesh) and Mahua (Bihar).

The platform claims that sellers saved nearly 200 billion rupees over the five-month period. Meesho’s seller base reached 4 lakh in 2021, with the highest participation coming from Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The online marketplace has added over 17 million entrepreneurs, 70% of whom are from level 2 markets.

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Credits: vanguardngr.com

If shopping online is your preferred way to buy, chances are you’ve tried or at least heard of increasingly popular auction types like Penny Auction. Here’s a quick rundown of what it is and why you should probably pay attention to this growing trend.

Penny auctions are quite popular in many foreign countries. The difference between penny auctions and regular auctions is that there is generally no base price for the items displayed, so the bids start from scratch. Also, the auction price of an item increases by a penny each time a user places an offer.

While in traditional auctions an interested bidder can increase their bid at will to outperform others and win the item as the “highest bidder”, this position is reserved for the last bidder in penny auctions when the clock is at zero. The highest bidder receives the right to pay the final auction price for the item.

Another attractive aspect of retail / ecommerce platforms using the penny auction model is the wide range of products that appear to be on their list. Most people choose an online platform to shop because of the variety of conveniences of home shopping.

Combine all of these features, a plethora of options to choose from, high-quality items, super affordable prices, convenience and you will see why penny auctions can be the new way for shoppers to always look for deep discounts to shop online.

There is also a competitive angle in penny auctions. There’s something about fighting over your preferred item with a stranger in another city that adds fun to an otherwise dull shopping experience.

The fascinating model of penny auctions is sparking interest in Nigeria. During its very short period of operation, Kobobid has been an important contributor to the growing popularity of penny auctions in the country, even as they take customer service to a new level in the e-commerce industry.

Kobobid marks Nigeria’s first foray into large-scale penny auctions. With its own “Kobo Auctions”, the vision is to make Nigerian auctions and the e-commerce web space fun and interactive, while providing an alternative way for people to purchase otherwise expensive products.

“Kobo Auctions” are like penny auctions, the main difference being the coins. User reviews on social media seem to confirm the legitimacy of Kobobid’s offerings and the fun aspect of shopping in the form of penny auctions. They were also amazed by Kobobid’s extraordinary dedication to ensuring customer satisfaction with every interaction, especially its fast door-to-door deliveries and fast digital transfer of money and airtime.

If you are an active and smart shopper who is also open to gamification in your buying process, penny auctions are definitely worth a try. As long as you know your priorities and limits and of course you don’t expect to keep winning, you may have discovered an exciting new way to shop online.

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