Southeast Asian loyalty and cashback platform Fave has launched its “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) service in Singapore and Malaysia.
The service is available on the Fave app for iOS users on Monday, followed by an Android release in July 2021, Fave said in a statement.
Eligible users will be able to split purchases over three equal, interest-free installments. Repayments will be automatically drawn every month, with no fees charged for on-time payments. In addition, customers will earn up to 10 percent cashback with every purchase, it added.
FavePay Later is available at all Fave merchants in Singapore and Malaysia on Monday, including marquee brands in popular retail verticals such Pandora, Marks & Spencer, Best Denki, Puma, GNC, among others.
The launch of FavePay Later comes at a time of pent-up demand among consumers after prolonged periods of lockdowns and social restrictions, with cash-strapped consumers seeking easier access to credit and merchants seeking innovative ways to revive ailing sales, Fave said.
Fave will be joining the BNPL bandwagon with Singapore-based BNPL startups such as hoolah, Atome, OctiFi and Rely which provide similar services in the city-state. In Malaysia, Southeast Asia tech giant Grab has run a rebate promotion in Malaysia last month to lure new users to sign up for the service. In the region, Grab’s rival Gojek has also offered a similar service. E-commerce platform Shopee introduced SPayLater through its app in January this year. Other companies providing BNPL options include Kredivo and Traveloka.
“We are excited to continue providing technology that helps our customers shop better, especially in the lead up to the reopening of shopping post-COVID lockdowns,” said Fave Chief Executive Officer Joel Neoh.
“It’s also becoming increasingly critical for merchants to work with partners that have integrated solutions such as Fave who cater for cashless payments, loyalty, and now, installment payments that ultimately take care of all the processing and risk for merchants. In addition, merchants gain access to valuable user behavior data and insights via Favebiz.com,” he added.
BNPL is poised to grow rapidly in Southeast Asia. New research from Juniper Research found that, by 2026, BNPL services will account for over 24 percent of international e-commerce transactions for physical goods by value, from just 9 percent in 2021. The research also found that the global number of BNPL users will exceed 1.5 billion transactions in 2026, from 340 million in 2021. The market is set to grow from $7.3 billion in 2019 to $33.6 billion in 2027 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.2 percent, with the Asia Pacific leading the growth, according to key estimates from Coherent Market Insights.
Fave recently opened up their API integration for online e-commerce platforms to support FavePay payments with buy now pay later and loyalty cashback features. With a growing number of partnerships with large tech firms in 2021, Fave will extend its BNPL offering to some of the largest online commerce companies in Southeast Asia within the latter half of 2021, the company said.
In April 2021, Fave was acquired by Indian fintech unicorn, Pine Labs, to accelerate joint global expansion.
Fave currently operates in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Fave will be launching in India in 2021.