Pan-African payment gateway Peach Payments has developed an avatar to help its merchants unpack the findings of the Online Retail in South Africa 2025 report, released last week.
Produced by World Wide Worx in association with Mastercard, Peach Payments and Ask Afrika, the report contains insights and information that can help merchants to improve their businesses, including feedback from 1,400 South African consumers. The avatar makes it easier for merchants (and anyone else who is interested) to access the findings through voice-prompts.
“This is the second year we’re sponsoring the research,” says Peach Payments brand marketing director Yudhvir Ranchod. “We found that while the research is very useful, at times it is difficult for merchants to figure out how to use the findings in their businesses.
“This year, we wanted to do something different. We worked with our internal marketing team and used an AI software platform to develop an avatar to help guide merchants through the research. We built avatars based on three people in our team, and ultimately chose an avatar based on a member of the brand marketing team. Putting ourselves as the interface was a commitment to our highly regarded support capability.”
The avatar draws the information it presents from a database that has been pre-loaded with historical data from World Wide Worx online retail research as well as basic guidelines about ecommerce and online retail. This information has been double-checked for accuracy.
The system has also undergone extensive testing to prevent “hallucinations”, a phenomenon where AI sometimes conjures up “information” that is not accurate. The result is a 24/7 interactive, voice-prompt-guided way to navigate the Online Retail in South Africa in 2025 report, and get guidance on how to improve an online business.
“We have done everything in our power to ensure accuracy and avoid hallucinations, while trying to be on the bleeding edge of technology,” says Ranchod. “The avatar is a first touch for merchants who want to understand better how the findings impact their businesses. Our support and sales teams are always available as a failsafe, should merchants want to double-check anything presented by the avatar.”
Says World Wide Worx CEO Arthur Goldstuck: “Peach Payments’ avatar is an amazing way to help people digest a comprehensive piece of research, and in line with current AI developments we see across the industry.”
This is not Peach Payments’ first foray into AI. The company also uses a text-based AI chatbot on its Support pages at support.peachpayments.com to help merchants and their inhouse software development teams resolve technical issues quickly.
- The avatar is available at reports.peachpayments.com.