Kuaishou to introduce the ‘buy now, pay later’ method through Sesame Credit

Kuaishou (Chinese: 快手, 1024:HK) announced the platform-wide launch of Sesame Credit's (Chinese: 芝麻信用) buy now and pay later (BNPL) service on June 2. Under ‘Sesame First’, customers with a sesame score of 550 and above will be able to order, receive and try the products before paying in the company’s e-commerce platform.

BNPL has become a hot trend in the global online payment industry. It is a type of short-term financing that enables consumers to make purchases and pay for them at a future date, usually without interest.

Chinese e-commerce businesses such as Alibaba and Pinduoduo have already adopted it in their platforms. Domestic and international BNPL service providers including Klarna, Affirm and Oceanpayment are all keen to serve clients and grab a stake in this growing market.

Unlike the previous transaction method, ‘Sesame First’ allows consumers to easily return and exchange goods if they have problems with poor product quality or non-delivery. This better protects the rights and interests of users while preventing consumers from having their money tied up while waiting to receive goods.

Concurrently, ‘Sesame First’ helps to solve the problem of distrust in new anchors, new brands and new products. Therefore, it may lead to an increase in sales and conversion rate, effectively raising the business’ income.

Yan Fei Fei, the person in charge of Kuaishou's e-commerce trading and industry products, said that after some the platform’s anchors piloted the feature, the store orders have grown significantly. For instance, one store’s order volume increased by 10% while another’s order success rate was 2.5 times higher than a regular order.

Kuaishou shares closed 3.17% higher to HKD 79.75 apiece today, with a market cap of HKD 266 billion.