which includes Makro and Masscash and Masstores t/a Walmart (Pty) Ltd
Amanda Veeraragaloo
National Credit Manager
Keneilwe Mokaleng
Treasury and Finance
Petalyn Baird-Whiteside
Senior Manager: Digital Payments
Hameeda Abader
Treasury Group Funding and Corporate Executive
Tendani Sikhwivhilu
Vice President of Corporate Finance
Rasaleka James
Massmart Wholesale Treasury Manager
South Africa
Massmart Wholesale, a subsidiary of Walmart Inc., is the second-largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa, operating over 300 stores across eight sub-Saharan countries. The division dominates the food, liquor and general merchandise markets through three primary pillars: Makro, Jumbo and Shield.
The challenge
Refunds represented a persistent and highly visible challenge for Massmart, particularly for exception scenarios where card details had expired or where e-commerce transactions could not be processed back to the original card.
These challenges are common across the retail sector and are structurally slow, as the majority of customer purchases are made using card payments and card scheme refunds inherently take several days to clear once initiated. As a result, refund turnaround times at Massmart averaged up to 24 days, creating significant customer frustration at a critical point in the retail journey.
Delays drove repeat store visits, high call centre volumes, social media and online platform complaints, and in some cases internal escalations within the business. Refunds became one of Massmart’s most publicly visible pain points, directly impacting brand sentiment and customer trust.
Operationally, the process was manual and fragmented. Exception refunds required validation and transaction-by-transaction handling, with no ability to process refunds in bulk. As omni-channel and e-commerce volumes increased, these inefficiencies scaled rapidly.
The solution
Massmart partnered with Standard Bank South Africa Transaction Banking to implement South Africa’s first PayShap-enabled instant refund solution at retail scale, initially focused on high impact exception refund scenarios.
PayShap is South Africa’s newly introduced national real‑time payments rail, enabling instant, irrevocable interbank payments using a verified mobile number or proxy rather than traditional account details.
While originally designed for peer-to-peer payments, Massmart and Standard Bank South Africa Transaction Banking recognised the opportunity to look beyond this and apply PayShap to a high volume corporate use case: retail refunds.
The solution allows refunds to be pushed instantly to customers once authorised, with real-time confirmation of receipt. PayShap was selected because it provides immediate settlement, broad reach across the banking system, and a bank-agnostic experience without requiring customers to download an app or change behaviour. It also offers a more cost-effective alternative to card scheme refunds, avoiding interchange and scheme fees. Implementation focused on process redesign, staff enablement, customer communication and phased deployment.
Best practice and innovation
The judges commended Massmart as an early adopter of new tech and innovation, achieving best practice.
The solution demonstrates innovation by being one of the first corporate implementations to leverage PayShap, South Africa’s new national real-time payments rail, beyond its original peer-to-peer use case.
Rather than viewing PayShap as simply another payment method, Massmart and Standard Bank recognised its potential as foundational infrastructure capable of reshaping long-standing retail processes, particularly refunds.
As the first PayShap refunds implementation at scale in South Africa’s retail sector, the solution establishes a replicable benchmark for the market and demonstrates how modern payment rails can replace decades-old card refund infrastructure.
Key benefits
Cost savings.
Exceptional implementation (budget/time).
Future-proof solution.
Improved key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics.
Increased automation.
Manual intervention reduced.
Reduction in errors.
The solution has fully met its original objectives by eliminating refund delays and transforming one of Massmart’s most problematic customer journeys. Refund turnaround time has reduced from up to 24 days to less than five days, with customers receiving funds instantly once processed.
Faster refunds mean customers regain access to their money sooner, increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases and reducing the risk of spend leakage to competitors. The solution has also delivered material cost benefits.
Compared to card scheme refunds, PayShap provides a lower cost domestic payment rail, improving speed without increasing cost to serve. Internally, bulk processing has eliminated manual reconciliation work and significantly reduced refund related enquiries. Since go-live, Exco‑level escalations related to refunds have fallen to zero and customer sentiment has improved visibly.
By adopting PayShap early as a new national payments rail, Massmart has positioned itself ahead of the retail curve and established refunds as a source of competitive advantage rather than reputational risk.
The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2026 awards attracted 635 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards
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