Virtual Card Services (VCS), a local supplier of secure electronic gateway services, says it has doubled its client base over the past year and still sees significant growth for the industry in the coming year.
The company, which lists the Argus Cycle Tour and the United Cricket Board among its clients, says online payments continue to grow despite the decline in the IT sector.
"Despite the many dot-com failures over the past two years, the number of people who buy over the Internet and the volume of sales both continue to grow," says Gordon Ashby, VCS MD. "This has raised the demand for the kind of secure payment mechanisms that we provide."
He adds that the largest part of the growth experienced by the company over the past year came from Internet-related business and more than 60% of VCS clients are now online users.
According to Ashby, VCS has increased its client base to more than 250 with nearly R40 million worth of transactions being processed every month by the company. Other organisations using the services include Medicard and Independent Newspapers subscriptions.
VCS also handles card processing for the new ticketing system developed by Dimension Data for the United Cricket Board. Ashby says the system is already operational in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Province and the Northwest, with Gauteng to be brought online this month.
He notes that VCS is able to offer multi-currency payment facilities through its international partnership with WorldPay, an offering he says makes VCS unique in the local electronic payment market.
"We are satisfied with the progress the company has made when trading conditions, particularly in the IT sector, have been difficult. We are confident of continuing our high rate of growth and have set our goals for 2002 at again doubling our client base and achieving a revenue growth of 5% month on month."
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