E-commerce, Malawi
We build WooCommerce shops that Malawian customers can actually pay on, with Airtel Money, TNM Mpamba and cards through a local provider. Behind the checkout sit stock, delivery and order processes your staff can run every day.
Selling online in Malawi has a hurdle many template shops ignore: the global payment platform most themes assume, Stripe, does not support Malawian businesses. A shop built around it will never take a payment. We start from the payment methods your customers already use and build the shop outwards from there.
That usually means mobile money. Through PayChangu, a Malawian provider, a WooCommerce shop can accept Airtel Money and TNM Mpamba as well as cards and bank transfers, with each payment confirmed back to the order automatically. Our team has built multi-currency checkouts and ticketing systems that handled more than 10,000 tickets, so we know where e-commerce breaks under real use.
PayChangu holds a Payment Service Provider licence from the Reserve Bank of Malawi and offers a WooCommerce plugin covering Airtel Money, TNM Mpamba, cards and bank transfer. We set it up in your merchant account, test every method, and design the steps around it: entering a phone number, approving on the handset, and returning to a clear confirmation. Customers with a TNM Mpamba Mastercard virtual card can also pay through the card option.
Your shop will price in kwacha, and with a currency that has seen large devaluations, prices may need updating more often than in other markets. We set up bulk price editing, scheduled sale prices and clear rules for imported goods whose cost follows the dollar. That way a price review is a morning's work for your team, not a week of editing products one at a time.
Most Malawian shops combine delivery within a city with collection points or courier dispatch to other towns. We configure delivery zones, fees and collection options to match how you really fulfil orders, and set up order emails and SMS-friendly status updates so customers know where their parcel is. Staff get a simple order screen that shows what to pack and what has been paid.
Every order captures names, phone numbers and addresses, which are personal information under the Data Protection Act 2024. A growing shop can pass 10,000 Malawian customers, the point at which MACRA registration as a controller of significant importance applies. We keep checkout fields to what fulfilment needs, add consent options for marketing, publish a privacy notice and restrict who can export customer lists.
Shoppers browse catalogues on phones, often on bundles they pay for themselves. Large product photos are the most common reason shop pages crawl. We resize and compress images automatically, use lazy loading, keep category pages lean and cache what can be cached. A faster shop sells more simply because more visitors reach the product they came for. We check the result on mid-range phones before launch, not only on office laptops.
Strategy & Design from $1,500 · Development from $5,000 · Managed Services from $2,000 per year. See pricing
These platforms by our Nigeria team show checkout and order handling at volume: an online school with payments in four currencies and an events platform that sold and scanned more than 10,000 tickets.
Yes. We integrate PayChangu, which supports direct charges on both Airtel Money and TNM Mpamba, together with cards and bank transfer. You open the merchant account in your business name and we connect it to WooCommerce. Customers approve the payment on their phone and the order updates automatically.
Stripe does not currently support businesses registered in Malawi, so it is not an option for a Malawian merchant account. For most local shoppers, mobile money through a local provider is the method that matters. If you also sell to customers abroad, we can discuss suitable additional options during scoping.
Shops are development projects, which start from $5,000. The price depends on the number of products and variations, payment and delivery rules, integrations and how much content we prepare. You receive a written scope with a fixed USD price before anything starts.
The payment provider deducts its fees from each transaction, and rates can vary by method. You decide whether to absorb the fee or reflect it in your prices. Check current rates with PayChangu directly before you launch, so your margins are calculated on accurate figures.
Yes. WooCommerce handles downloads, memberships and recurring products. If you sell digital services, ask your accountant about VAT, as Malawi's rules on digital services changed in April 2026 for non-resident suppliers. We build the products and checkout; tax advice comes from your adviser.
Yes. We train your team on adding products, updating prices, processing orders and issuing refunds, and leave a written guide. Maintenance plans are available if you would prefer us to handle updates and monitoring after launch. New staff can learn from the recorded walkthrough we provide.
We also work acrossBotswanaCanadaCôte d'IvoireEthiopiaGhanaKenyaNigeriaRwandaSénégalSouth AfricaSwedenTanzaniaUgandaUnited KingdomUnited StatesZambiaZimbabweAll countries
A new website, a redesign, a client portal, a booking system, or a move from another platform. Tell us what you need and we will tell you how WordPress can carry it.
What happens next
