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Hello readers,
When I first heard about buy now, pay later, I was skeptical. How different could this be from credit cards? Also, why buy something you can’t afford to pay in full upfront?
Turns out, BNPL is not just about affordability. People who can afford a US$200 to US$500 purchase might also enjoy the flexibility of not paying for it all at once. Others meanwhile might like the option of settling the whole month’s accounts at once.Grab’s postpaid option lets you buy and then pay a whole month later, for instance.
But BNPL envisions to be so much more than just a form of checkout. It ties together the intent of taking on credit (say, to buy a camera) with the actual purchase and reduces the credit application process to just a few clicks, providing perhaps the true end-to-end shopping experience of today.
More importantly, BNPL, in theory and design, encourages timely repayment behavior and could help its users better manage their finances – a skill that many of us in our generation lack.
I personally haven’t tried it out, but at the rate that it’s becoming more available, I just might soon.
— Melissa Goh, journalist at Tech in Asia
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1️. ‘Buy now, pay later’ heats up in Singapore with Grab, Mastercard entering the scene
Can Singapore accommodate all of these players? How will they differentiate themselves?
2️. Singtel’s bold move to storm the gaming world
After a string of failed ventures, Singtel is trying again with a new gaming company called Storms. Can the telco learn from the past?
3️. Ex-WhatsApp, Google execs join US$7m round for Indian public transport startup
Funds raised from the financing round will be used to expand Chalo’s network into multiple cities.
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