Boksha is a brand with ambitious designs for the future — literally. It specializes in promoting the work of independent clothes designers in the Gulf region and is building a global presence.
The online marketplace has achieved much in a short time. Founded in 2018, it's morphed from a technology start-up to a thriving international marketplace that ships unique items from over 1,000 designers to over 55 countries worldwide.
Having secured a $1 million seed investment in 2021, Boksha is ready for the next growth phase. And with investors looking to see solid foundations for continued growth, Boksha needs a best-in-class payments partner to inspire investor confidence and business success. This is where Checkout.com comes in.
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A scaling business must think carefully about payments to ensure it has the right platform to meet customer expectations and handle rising transaction volumes. This is something that young Emirati entrepreneur and Boksha co-founder and CEO, Yahya Mohamed Saleh, was acutely aware of, given his ambitions of building an international marketplace and needing to accommodate different currencies and payment preferences.
When he first approached Checkout.com in 2017, Saleh says that he was impressed by its commitment and presence in the Middle East. Although Boksha decided to use another payment provider in the early days, Saleh kept Checkout.com in mind and continually heard positive reports from other retailers using its technology in the region.
"We were frequently referred to Checkout.com by other successful businesses," he says. "So we engaged the Checkout team again. It became clear we needed a payment provider with Checkout.com's credentials if we were to continue growing our business."
Checkout.com's track record and modern technology stack were key considerations for Boksha. Saleh says it was essential to have a payments provider who was both a regional and retail expert and made it easy to onboard without any drag on time and resources.
"We weren't disappointed once we started working with Checkout.com," says Saleh. "The team is fantastic. They're true payments experts with deep knowledge and experience in the region, and they've helped us understand payments and their impact on customer experience."
Boshka uses Checkout.com's Frames solution. This modern iFrame solution allows Boshka to embed a payment page hosted by Checkout.com on its website. With Frames, secure tokens are generated to handle payment information so that transactions remain PCI-compliant. The result is a seamless customer experience because buyers don't have to leave the Boksha website to complete a purchase.
"Integration was swift and straightforward," says Saleh. "And the Checkout.com team supported us at every step to ensure it was a success."
Saleh also underlines how Boshka has benefited from Checkout.com's flexible technology since going live. This flexibility allows the company to introduce additional features when required, such as new payment methods like Apple Pay and American Express.
"Checkout.com was one of the early adopters of Apple Pay in the region and had enabled it for many other businesses," says Saleh. "Its track record gave us confidence it could do the same for us. And Checkout.com lived up to these expectations."
Saleh says enabling Apple Pay is a "game-changer" that's delivered immediate benefits. "We instantly saw large numbers of customers using it to check out," he says. "And with the additional authentication layers native to Apple Pay, nearly all of these payments were authorized successfully."
Boshka has enabled several other payment methods with Checkout.com that weren't available with its previous provider, such as Mada debit cards. Checkout.com also allows Boksha to process and settle in multiple currencies like Kuwaiti dinar and Saudi riyal.
Above all, the most striking benefit for Boksha has been the rise in acceptance rates — a 10% increase in a year across all payment methods. "This is a remarkable number," says Saleh. "And it shows Checkout.com is helping us capture more sales as our business grows, which is crucial if we're to achieve our objectives."
Apart from facilitating payments, Checkout.com acts as a business partner, helping Boksha optimize the way it works and promote growth. "We feel truly looked after by Checkout.com," says Saleh. "We have a dedicated success manager who's always available to answer questions and provide guidance. And, critically, the manager is proactive in finding ways to increase sales and empower our growth."
Examples of this partnership include supporting the adoption of 3Ds 2.0 to increase payments security and minimize declines. Checkout.com also holds regular review meetings to help Boksha better understand its performance data. These sessions have allowed Boksha to understand its customers better and develop effective marketing strategies that reduce the cost of customer acquisition.
Checkout.com also enables payment links as a backup to capture and create bespoke invoice orders. Links originally expired within 24 hours, but Checkout.com has configured them to last for three days, allowing Boksha to follow up with customers and recover lost sales.
As a former Arab chess champion, Saleh knows that winning requires strategic focus and careful planning. Running an online retail business may not be a chess game, but there are parallels: you need to think ahead and make calculated moves to succeed internationally. Moreover, having an expert payment partner on your side provides a clear commercial edge.
Conquering new markets and remaining competitive is a team game. "If you want to scale, Checkout.com is the right payments partner for you," says Selah. "It has a dedicated team, a strong history, and provides support that you won't find with other local players."
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