There’s no later for Vietnam’s BNPL scene

Sign up for the Daily Newsletter, sent exclusively to our premium subscribers. We break down the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community. Get the newsletter in your inbox everyday with a premium subscription.

Hello there,

My first encounter with buy now, pay later services was when I was living in Australia. While shopping with friends at our local mall, I noticed that several stores offered AfterPay as a payment option, although I had no clue at the time what that was.

I eventually found out that Afterpay is a BNPL service, and I was a little baffled, because I didn’t understand why people would want to pay for a US$30 blouse or US$50 jeans in installments.

I still don’t understand it now, to be honest, but I do understand why BNPL can be appealing to some – and why Southeast Asia has proven to be an interesting market for this payment method. Today’s premium story focuses on Vietnam and how its BNPL players are faring.

Today we look at:

• The rise of BNPL in Vietnam
• An ecommerce platform in Spain launched by an Alibaba subsidiary
• Other newsy highlights such as Binance’s return to Japan and GoTo’s stock price plunge

Premium summary

Vietnam’s buying now and paying later

Image credit: Timmy Loen

BNPL seems to have lost its shine in many parts of the world, but in Vietnam, it appears to be taking off.

• Who’s who: There’s no lack of BNPL options in the country. Aside from foreign BNPL firms such as Atome and Kredivo and local providers such as Fundiin and Ree-Pay, other players that are getting in on the action include banks such as HSBC, tech companies like Tiki and MoMo, and even consumer finance firms like FE Credit and HomeCredit.

• Plenty of potential: The gross merchandise value of BNPL in Vietnam is estimated to reach US$10.5 billion by 2028, with adoption seeing a spike in recent quarters. Plus, only 4% of Vietnam’s population owns a credit card, creating an opportunity for BNPL companies to address that gap.

• Up in the air: However, the sector still has to deal with uncertainties. The country doesn’t have a clear legal framework regulating BNPL yet – and a cautious approach makes sense, considering that Vietnam’s peer-to-peer lending sector is notoriously associated with fraudsters and scams.

Read more: Why Vietnam is buying into BNPL now, not later

Hola amigos

Quick bytes