Temu partners with Verve to make shopping easier for Nigerians
With this, Verve is steadily expanding as a viable international payment option for Nigerians.
For years, Nigerian shoppers wanting to buy from international stores have faced a frustrating reality: their local debit cards often didn’t work. Banks restricted naira-denominated cards from foreign transactions, forcing people to rely on dollar cards or fintech-issued virtual USD cards—both of which came with extra fees and exchange rate fluctuations.
Now, Verve is changing that for Temu shoppers. The Nigerian payment card provider has struck a deal with Temu—a Chinese e-commerce giant that took the country by storm via a barrage of ads across online platforms—to allow direct naira payments. This means Verve cardholders can now shop on Temu without worrying about currency conversion or the need for a dollar card. It’s a significant shift, considering Verve has historically been limited to domestic transactions.
Kelechi Edeh
It also unlocks a new level of access for over 70 million Verve cardholders in Nigeria. As a homegrown service, Verve is cheaper for banks to issue than Visa or Mastercard, making it the most widely distributed card in the country. With Nigeria's e-commerce market projected to peak at $7.04 billion this year per Statista, Verve's move could position it at the center of a growing digital economy.
This isn’t Verve’s first step into global e-commerce. Last year, it partnered with AliExpress, another Chinese giant, to enable naira payments. With Temu now on board, both platforms are making a clear push for African shoppers, many of whom have long struggled with payment restrictions.
Beyond e-commerce, Verve has steadily expanded its reach. It’s already accepted on platforms like Google, Netflix, Uber, and Spotify, reinforcing its ambition to go beyond local transactions. As global merchants eye Africa’s 570 million internet users, Verve’s international push is likely just beginning.
But this also raises questions about competition. Jumia, Africa’s largest e-commerce platform, processed over $750 million in transactions in 2023, but with AliExpress and Temu offering seamless local payment options, the pressure is on. Meanwhile, Amazon still lacks a frictionless way for Nigerians to shop, potentially making Temu an even more attractive option.
For Nigerian shoppers, it all comes down to convenience. Whether this is a game-changer or just another payment option remains to be seen, but one thing is clear—cross-border shopping is getting a little easier.
Emmanuel Oyedeji
