Seven out of ten shoppers get stuck at the checkout, even though it feels like the last run. If your connection gets shaky, sales will go down. Have you ever thought about how many sales you miss because the payment process feels strange or dangerous whenever it's a busy shopping day?

Peach Payments is the route designed for African businesses, international buyers, and impatient thumbs. Its tools cut down on pain points and keep card info off of your systems, like hosted pages and low-code plugins. It helps you get ready to plug in and start making money immediately, without dealing with endless PCI tasks.
 

Why Choosing Peach Payments Matters

A 2024 Forbes report examining 49 separate studies found that the average world cart departure rate is 70.1%. That number shows how much money you don't make when checkout is slow, hard to understand, or unsafe. You can get back a good chunk of those lost orders with a simple gateway that supports local currencies, 3D Secure v2, and loads in milliseconds. This is precisely the area where Peach Payments shines.
 

Pre‑Integration Checklist:

• Merchant onboarding: Your Peach Payments Sandbox account will be activated once KYC is complete.
• TLS everywhere: Utilize HTTPS (TLS 1.2+) to connect to your website.
• Decide your scope: Hosted Checkout (lowest PCI burden) vs. Embedded widget vs. full Payments API.
• Platform readiness: Check whether the plugins work with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and Shopware, or set up REST endpoints for custom stacks.
• Webhook endpoint: Open up a safe HTTPS URL to get information on the progress of a transaction.
   

Step‑by‑Step Integration Guide

By following this step-by-step plan, you can quickly and safely go from sandbox testing to Peach Payments that make you money. Each step explains why it matters, what you need to configure, and how to ensure you're meeting compliance requirements.
 

Step 1: Generate Sandbox Credentials

Get your sandbox merchant identity and secret key by logging into the Peach Payments website and creating a project. Store both values securely in a vault or a setup file. If you suspect anyone has seen your passwords, update them right away—and never store them in version control.
 

Step 2: Choose Your Integration Model

Pick between Hosted Checkout, Embedded Checkout, or the full Payments API, depending on your platform and how much control or compliance responsibility you want to handle. Hosted links keep you in low-burden SAQ-A, while the API gives you more code, PCI responsibilities, and UX freedom.
 

Step 3: Install the Plugin or SDK

Install the official Peach Payments application, paste your keys, and turn on payment methods on SaaS platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce. To make custom stacks, you need to import the SDK, keep the files up to date, and build server-side routes that can create orders, grab tokens, and check replies.
 

Step 4: Create the Checkout Session

Send a secure POST request to /v1/checkouts with the amount in small units, the currency, your email address, and the URL you want to return. You add the checkout ID or redirect link Peach Payments gives you to your front end to start the safe online payment process.
 

Step 5: Configure Payment Methods

In the panel, you can switch between Instant EFT, SnapScan, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayShap cards. Set them up so that the locally chosen ways show up first. Using 3‑D Secure v2, fraud filters, and tokenization here cuts down on chargebacks, speeds up payment, and instantly builds trust among shoppers.
 

Step 6: Handle Webhooks

Make an HTTPS address public that can handle JSON messages from transaction.status events. Validate the signing header with your secret, keep packages alive indefinitely, change the state of the order, and send email receipts. Also, queue retries for any 5xx responses to keep the financial balance safe and reliable.
 

Step 7: Go Live

To ensure the payment flow is correct, switch the sandbox passwords for the production keys, process the orders, and then refund the customers immediately. Keep an eye on the screen's " Analytics " tab, track drops and delays, add alerts, and stop release if error rates exceed certain limits during the first day.
 

Security and Compliance Highlights

PCI DSS Level 1 approval, tokenization, and 3D Secure v2 are included with Peach Payments out of the box. A merchant using Hosted or Embedded Checkout stays in the light-touch SAQ-A/A-EP scope. Payments API users can still stay out of the scope of raw card data by using client-side tokenization tools. Add speed limits, BIN country checks, and CVV enforcement to the screen to stop common ways that fraudsters get in without making it harder for real shoppers.

Conclusion

With over 500 million e-commerce users expected in Africa by 2025, the growth potential is massive—and having a smooth, secure checkout process is more important than ever. By integrating Peach Payments into your e-commerce website, you've set up a payment gateway that reduces friction, protects customer data, and supports all major platforms as your business scales. Stick to the integration steps, keep testing and refining, and you'll be well on your way to turning more browsers into buyers.