The verdict in three sentences
Forcing a single rail at checkout in Nairobi means losing every buyer whose money lives on another network. A multi-gateway checkout routing across M-Pesa, Paystack and cards with automatic failover captures the whole market and lifts conversion by 4 to 9 %. In 2026 fees sit around 1.5 to 2 %, and smart routing with switch-on-failure improves the success rate by +6 % on average — the same logic that powers unified MTN MoMo + Orange Money checkouts in Cameroon.
Provider detection and routing
The first rule of a good checkout: never ask the buyer to pick their provider manually. In Kenya, phone prefix and account type route the transaction to the right rail. Here is the 2026 routing read for a Nairobi checkout.
| Input | Rail | Target API | Merchant fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07xx / 01xx Safaricom | M-Pesa | Daraja STK Push | 1.5-2 % |
| Airtel Money number | Airtel | Airtel Money API | 1.5-2 % |
| Card (local) | Card | Paystack / Flutterwave | 2.9 % + fixed |
| Card (international) | Card | Visa/Mastercard | 3.3-3.8 % |
| Bank / PesaLink | EFT | bank API | ~1 % |
| Unknown | — | manual choice shown | variable |
Routing matrix and fallback rules
Routing does not stop at detection: it handles failure. If the primary API returns a timeout or decline, the system offers an alternative in under 3 seconds instead of a dead error. Here is the measured impact of multi-gateway routing, transferable to Cameroon's MTN/Orange setup.
| Scenario | No routing | Multi-gateway routing |
|---|---|---|
| Global success rate | 79 % | 85 % |
| Primary API timeout | hard failure | fallback in 3 s |
| Insufficient balance | abandon | retry + card |
| Conversion gain | baseline | +4 to +9 % |
| Weighted average fee | 2 % | 1.8 % |
| Perceived checkout time | 25-40 s | 12-20 s |
Mini case study
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Wanjiru runs an online cosmetics store in Nairobi. Before, she accepted only M-Pesa: out of 100 attempts, 40 Airtel and card buyers dropped off. After moving to a multi-gateway checkout with card fallback, her success rate climbs from 79 % to 85 %. On 3,000,000 KES of monthly attempts, that recovers roughly 180,000 KES of previously lost sales at near-zero extra fee cost, since routing picks the cheapest working rail.
FAQ
How do I handle ported numbers (MNP)? Prefix alone can misroute after portability. Add a secondary check via the provider API, or let the buyer confirm with one tap when detection is ambiguous.
Is card fallback essential in Nairobi? Not the top priority for local e-commerce, but it captures diaspora and corporate cards. Expect 2.9 % + fixed for local cards versus 1.5 to 2 % on mobile money.
How long before triggering fallback? A 25 to 30 second timeout on the primary API, then immediate switch. Beyond that, buyers close the tab.
What conversion gain should I expect? An order of magnitude of +4 to +9 %, depending on how much market share the excluded rail holds. The more mixed your audience, the bigger the gain.
One PSP or several? An aggregator exposing M-Pesa + Airtel + card in one API simplifies integration. Otherwise, orchestrate routing yourself across three separate APIs.
Let's talk about your project. We build your multi-gateway checkout with prefix detection and failover tested across every rail. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
