This December, like countless Namibian families, I attempted something that should be straightforward: booking a holiday online.
The promise was enticing, attractive discounts for online bookings, and the convenience of securing accommodation from my living room.
The reality was anything but.
After carefully selecting dates and entering my card details, I was met with a generic error message: “Payment failed. Please try again.” I tried again. And again.
Different cards, different browsers, different times of day. The same result. What struck me was that two of the best hospitality companies, competitors in every other sense, both use the same payment service provider.
The same broken experience, replicated across multiple booking platforms.
The workaround?
Phone calls, emails, and manual electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments.
In 2025, I found myself sending proof of payment via email and waiting for manual confirmation before my booking was secured. This is not the digital transformation we should be celebrating.
This experience reflects a broader malaise in our digital economy.
We have embraced the aesthetics of digital transformation, the websites, the booking buttons, the ‘pay online’ prompts, without ensuring the underlying infrastructure actually works.
User experience has become an afterthought rather than a design principle.
Internationally, businesses have long understood that payment friction directly translates to lost revenue.
When a customer encounters a payment error, research consistently shows that the majority will abandon their purchase entirely. Successful global companies address this through several key strategies.
First, they offer multiple payment options.
Credit cards are just one channel. Digital wallets, buy-now-pay-later services, and direct bank integrations provide alternatives when one method fails.
Second, they implement intelligent payment routing, automatically directing transactions through backup processors when primary systems fail.
Third, they invest in real-time monitoring, when payment systems fail, teams are alerted instantly and solutions deployed within hours.
For Namibia, the path forward requires honest assessment and practical action. Our hospitality sector, in particular, cannot afford to lose bookings to payment friction, not when we are actively marketing ourselves as a premier tourism destination. Every failed transaction is a potential visitor who books elsewhere.
Businesses must demand service level agreements from their payment providers that include uptime guarantees and rapid issue resolution. They should implement backup payment channels so that when card processing fails, customers can seamlessly complete their transaction through alternative means.
More immediately, businesses should enhance their websites to present EFT as a clear, upfront option rather than a hidden fallback.
A simple choice at checkout, ‘Would you like to pay by card or EFT transfer?’, removes friction entirely.
Customers who know their cards may fail can select EFT from the start, complete their booking with confidence, and receive immediate confirmation once payment reflects. This is not a technical challenge; it is a design decision that respects customer reality.
Our regulators and industry bodies also have a role. Payment service providers operating in Namibia should meet minimum reliability standards. Transparency around system performance and downtime should be expected, not exceptional.
Digital transformation is not about having a website.
It is about delivering seamless, reliable experiences that respect customers’ time and earn their trust.
When we push customers toward online channels with discount incentives but cannot deliver a functional payment experience, we erode confidence in our entire digital economy.
Namibia deserves better than ‘try again’ error messages.
Our businesses, our tourism sector, and our customers deserve payment infrastructure that works. The technology exists. The solutions are proven.
What we need now is the commitment to implement them.
– Job Angula is a leading digital transformation strategist and advocate.
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