Questions from a non-SA company

[DP Services]

Hi,

I hope I chose the right topic for this question, if not I would be grateful for directions =) This is my first post so I hope I am in line with the forum rules.

As a background I need to mention that I represent a company in Europe that has taken a decision to try to expand on the South African market.

I have a few areas where I better need to understand the ”best practice” for the SA market and I would be grateful for any types of input:

Payments

What is the most common way to charge for subscription(b2b) services? (example: 12 month contract: Yearly, monthly, quarterly. In advance or not?)

If b2b is the target. What is the preferable method of payment?

2. Renewals

Let’s say a client(b2b) signs up for 12 months. After 12 months is it normal to renew for another 12 months or is it consider good business practise to move clients to a 3 month contract?

3. Contracts

For low-cost subscriptions is a written contract necessary between the provider and client(b2b), or would digitally approved terms of service suffice?

4. Marketing

Apart from Google. Is there any other type of digital driven marketing channels that would be good to explore? How’s the view on direkt marketing as an example?

5. Partners

Any tips here would be welcome. Is it preferable to aim for the trusted partner model (in my world that is when the partner owns the business engagement and the client) or is it better to hunt for affiliate partners.


As stated above, any tips or info would be great.

Thank you!

[Blurock]

Welcome to the Forum SA, Mats.
It all depends on what services you offer and what you want to achieve. A monthly fee over a period of 12 months seems a better option than paying all up front. It should all be negotiated with the client.
Why renew your service for 3 months only and not for the next 12 months? The objective of a business is surely to create a client/customer. A further objective should be to retain that customer.

[DP Services]

Thank you Blurock,

I do agree with you, the objective is to retain the customer. The reason for me asking was that it's not uncommon to set up contracts like that in northern Europe, hence my question. Thank you for the feedback!

The price range for the service ranges from €50/m to €175/m. Do you think it would be possible to suggest a yearly payment plan for the lower tiers and monthly on the higher tiers?

All the best!

[Blurock]

The product is obviously aimed at businesses with regular trade with Europe. I would say that a company would want to negotiate the fee and bundle of services depending on their own situation. Have you identified any potential clients yet?

[DP Services]

Yes, that is correct, either trade/market/monitoring or indirectly (act as a sub-contractor or offering a cloud service on the European market). So you suggest that we should rethink the price strategy and bundle for more tiers or provide a more flexible option? Yes, I have identified a number of potential clients within 4 different business sectors, and I have started to scout for partners, or at least mapping up what type of partners that would be suitable.

[2Conn]

I also would like to ask what the most common payment methods are presented at SA market ? Do you have some local payment systems where foreigners can register and take a part of that or usual banking wire taking part in all this like usual ? Let me know cause I may be in some same situation like DP Service, maybe B2C only

[Cobalt]

As far as I know the most common payment methods are Credit Card and EFT (or online banking) as far as local goes. Foreigners likes using PayPal, and that's popular too