Zalora offers shoppers BNPL option with Pace partnership

Zalora is giving its shoppers in Singapore and Malaysia the option to make their purchases via a new buy now, pay later (BNPL) service. Available through fintech company Pace Enterprise, the payment mode lets consumers spread their spend through three monthly instalments. 

The BNNPL option currently is available only on Zalora's website, but will be extended to its mobile app later this year. To select the payment mode, customers will have to choose Pace during checkout and complete their payment at the latter's website, the two partners said in a statement Tuesday. 

They also will need to register for a Pace account, if they do not already have one, to use the payment service for their Zalora purchases. Upon doing so, the transaction will be completed over three interest-free instalments. They will incur a late-fee charge if they miss any payments.

According to Pace, merchants do not pay any cost to deploy or integrate its service, and instead are charged a per-transaction fee.

Zalora's regional director of payment and customer operations, Kannan Rajaratnam, said the BNPL service provided its customers more options as more in the region turned to digital retail. “Shoppers can shop with ease and peace of mind while having the ability to manage their finances in a transparent and responsible manner,” Rajaratnam added. 

Pace's founder and CEO Turochas “T” Fuad said the partnership with the online fashion retailer gave his company access to a “new group of e-commerce shoppers”.  

Already, the tie-up had led to an estimated 30% jump in average spend in Singapore and Malaysia for Zalora. Early figures also revealed a 20% increase in Pace transactions by new Zalora customers. 

Pace said it was on target to hit 1 million users by year-end, with an annualised GMV (gross merchandise value) of $1 billion.

The fintech company currently has operations in Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia, while Zalora has presence in Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.

BNPL sees high growth in Singapore

BNPL is expected to see a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 40% in Singapore, through to 2025, according to new data from FSI's Worldpay 2022 Global Payments Report released Tuesday.

The payment mode also would double its share of e-commerce transaction value in Singapore, from 4% last year to 8% in 2025. The study also pointed to BNPL as the fastest growing online payment method in Singapore, clocking a 40% CAGR. 

The country's e-commerce market was projected to see a 16% CAGR to hit $10.7 billion in 2025. 

Credit and charge cards were the main online payment mode last year, accounting for 42% of overall e-commerce transaction value. Digital wallets pushed 29% of transactions, while bank transfers accounted for 12%. 

The report noted that digital wallet and bank transfers would continue to climb, taking up 31% and 11%, respectively, share of Singapore's e-commerce transaction value by 2025.

E-commerce platform Fave last June also introduced a BNPL service for its customers in Singapore and Malaysia, where it had more than 6 million users. The service was launched as a pilot at more than 40,000 stores for Apple iOS customers, with access for Google Android users offered the following month. 

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