Heralding Online Shopping Freedom in Sri Lanka

The World of E-Commerce

E-commerce is certainly one of the most disruptive innovations of the past few decades. Globally, it has rendered existing retail giants who were slow to adapt belly up but also gave rise to new behemoths, like Amazon, that now dominate the arena.

In Sri Lanka, however, it has been a different story altogether.

While it is worth noting that this space is showing promising growth and is projected to hit $400 million in sales by the year 2022, Sri Lankan e-commerce is still very much in a nascent stage. The nation is still struggling with a multitude of consumer behaviours and consumer services that are yet to meet global norms.

One such scenario is that despite the 47% internet penetration in the nation and a significant banking population, Cash on Delivery, is still the preferred choice for customers, accounting for 80% of online sales.

This state of affairs makes all online retailers extremely vulnerable to costly and volatile courier fees as well as huge revenue losses from returned items that go unpaid. This vastly heightens the risk of being an online business. Ensuring a sustainable future for retail e-commerce in Sri Lanka demands that vendors are also afforded peace of mind and stability when conducting business.

Ultimately, this risk mitigation can only take place by way of an alternate form of payment that is made available to both businesses and customers!

What is ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’?

Innovation typically generates a positive snowball effect and adoption of new advancements in fintech are gaining momentum.

Large swathes of digitally native Millennials and Gen Z’s are now scouring the internet for all their retail needs. A transition that has been dramatically hastened due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In their eyes, ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ is the perfect solution given their financially conscious and debt aversive mindsets.

Picture this, a shopper who is finishing up their long online retail journey finally ends up at the checkout menu, where the cart total causes them to do a double-take. They are now forced to weigh their options. Do they buy all the things they found on their thrilling shopping excursion or do they just bite the bullet and take the hit to their wallet?

Imagine if they could just kill two birds with one stone and select a payment method that allows them to buy what they want and not pay the entire cost upfront.

Such a payment method does exist. One where the total cost just gets split up over several months at no added interest, allowing them to enjoy shopping experiences without any stress.

This is what exactly ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ is offering all modern digital customers: smaller instalments over time, no interest payments and most importantly of all, peace of mind. Just as the name implies, simply ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’!

What is Mintpay?

Mintpay is Sri Lanka’s first buy ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ platform.

Mintpay helps businesses cater to Millennial and Gen Z markets with ease. Mintpay follows strict protocols to provide platform security with multiple identity verifications and comprehensive artificial intelligence-based repayment analysis.

With eyes set upon the future, Mintpay is aimed to cause a seismic shift in the landscape of e-commerce in Sri Lanka.

How to Use Mintpay as a Customer

To begin using Mintpay, all a customer needs to do is visit www.mintpay.lk, follow 5 simple steps to sign up and the customer is good to go!

Once these few simple steps are completed, the account will be verified in a matter of hours, giving customers access to use Mintpay facility.

When they are signed up, they will have to navigate to the In-Store feature that showcases all available Mintpay merchant partners. Customers will then merely need to click on a merchant partner, fill their cart up and select Mintpay as their payment option when checking out.

Their payment will then be split into 3 interest-free payments to be paid over a period of 2 months. The first payment is made at checkout, the order is immediately processed and shipped to customers by the relevant merchant. It is that easy!

As a strong proponent of responsible spending, Mintpay also gradually increases customer spending capacity on their platform based on the customers’ ability to meet their scheduled payments.

Benefits to Mintpay Customers

Mintpay brings financial freedom and breathing space through their ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ payment options. It empowers users because let’s face it, who wouldn’t like to shop now and pay later. Gone are the days of credit card regret!

Customers will now be in a position to make better household budgeting decisions by making several payments instead of sinking their income into large shopping expenses.

Overall convenience and seamless integration of this payment method at the point of sale should not be overlooked. Time saved entering data refines the overall customer journey by providing a peace of mind that was not available before.

Benefits to Merchants

Millennial and Gen Z generations, who now hold a significant proportion of purchasing power, have grown disillusioned about the prospect of accruing credit card debt. They now prefer alternatives that let them avoid debt altogether.

It is therefore vital for merchants to provide facilities that match up to the payment behaviours of their young customers as the availability of ‘Buy Now, Shop Later’ leads to customers purchasing more at checkout.

A study conducted by the Baymard Institute also showed that 50% of surveyed adults from the US abandoned their carts due to ‘sticker shock’. This happen when the due total they accumulated was more than they anticipated. With a ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ solution, merchants can dramatically increase checkout conversions by taking away the burden of a large bulk payment.

Ultimately, the current digital environment means that merchants need to be adaptable to meet the needs of the Millennials & Gen Z who are now looking for digitally integrated, convenient and responsible avenues of e-commerce in the decades to come.

Who are the Mintpay Merchant Partners?

When presented with new ideas, many brands shirk at the prospect of change.

However, Mintpay has onboard their platform a series of exceptional local brands who can see the business opportunities presented by integrating a ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ into their sales funnels.

They embrace innovation, cherish customer experience, strive to become the epitome of a successful retail e-commerce brand and are proud Mintpay Merchant Partners:

• Thirteen Thirtyone
• Glitteray
• Zigzag
• EKKO
• Iris Garden
• Zigma Jones
• Urbank.lk
• Stripes & Checks

It cannot be understated, the growing purchasing power of the Gen Z and Millennials, as they dominate the modern digital markets and the growth to be gained by effectively catering to them.

If you are interested in amplifying your brands’ digital retail strategy, then it is highly recommended you get in contact by visiting www.mintpay.lk or by messaging them at support@mintpay.lk

What to Look Forward to with Mintpay!

As the development of online markets surge within Sri Lanka, Mintpay foresees an opportunity to connect customers and merchants with mutually beneficial and financially responsible transactions.

Mintpay also hopes to expand its services to merchants across all industries and develop data-driven measures to assess the repayment behaviour of the customer, minimize business risk and uplift responsible consumerism in the country.

Mintpay is committed to enhancing the future of Sri Lankan e-commerce and is currently hard at work, to bring exciting new additions to its services over the next few quarters!