Alipay Taps Splitit to Let Shoppers ‘Pay After Delivery’

Alipay has teamed with Splitit to help customers make eCommerce payments in installments.

The Chinese payments company said Sunday (Jan. 15) it was working with Splitit — a buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm — to offer shoppers on the Alibaba Group’s eCommerce market AliExpress the ability to “pay after delivery.”

“Pay on delivery is Splitit’s new installment service that allows consumers to pay for goods after delivery,” the companies said in a news release provided to PYMNTS. “The agreement leverages Splitit’s Instalments-as-a-Service platform to create a custom-branded experience embedded in the AliExpress checkout flow.”

The companies said the service will initially roll out in Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand it to other markets around the world.

The two companies say the offer is possible with the help of a third company, Checkout.com, which launched a partnership with Splitit in November.

Splitit introduced its Installments-as-a-Service platform in May. The tool uses consumer credit on payment cards to streamline the checkout experience embedded in merchants’ payment flows. It lets consumers with an available balance on their credit cards access the service with no application, interest or fees and no changes to their credit report.

The partnership comes as BNPL use continues to grow in popularity, as recent research by PYMNTS has shown.

Consumers leaned into buy now, pay later (BNPL) options during 2022’s holiday season as inflation put a strain on their budgets. And while it has its roots in the eCommerce world, BNPL has expanded to become an option in stores.

“With 25% of shoppers blending in-store and online shopping this year, rewards await retailers that offer both online and offline BNPL — seamlessly,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

Customers typically pick the merchants they wish to patronize based on brand loyalty, but BNPL shoppers are more likely to seek out the best deals, one recent study found.

Forty-three percent of BNPL shoppers reported they would use BNPL apps during the most recent holiday season to hunt for bargains, and 40% planned to do most of their holiday shopping using this method.

While stores may be worried about losing business to competitors, offering BNPL is a good way to create a more level playing field, with 31% of shoppers saying their budgets are considerably more flexible with BNPL than they would be otherwise.

In addition, studies have found that 70% of consumers spend more when using BNPL than they would without it, and nearly half of consumers say they select merchants based on their partnerships with preferred BNPL providers.