Singapore’s Buy Now, Pay Later Startup Atome Partners Up For Malaysia Launch

Singapore’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Atome is introducing its service to Malaysia, featuring in excess of 100 online and physical store retailers, according to Startups.

Consumers in Malaysia can now shop and pay using Atome at merchant partners by scanning a QR code in-store or choosing Atome as a website checkout option. The startup launched three years ago and entered local markets with brands such as Agoda, ezbuy, Eu Yan Sang and Hush Puppies.

Other merchant partners across key verticals include fashion, beauty, lifestyle and health/ fitness. Examples are Obermain, Onikym, Lash Lab, Face Shop, Aprilskin, 176 Avenue, A Cut Above, Swee Lee Music, Novelship, Crumpler, Box of Bricks, Cocomi, Trapo, Liberty Active, Circle DNA, Tribe and Fly Project.

Atome mobile app users have the option of splitting their bill into three payments over time with no interest or fees, Trasy Lou-Walsh, general manager for Atome Singapore and Malaysia said, per the news outlet. She added that Atome’s service will support local shops in Malaysia while also offering businesses the support needed as the world moves beyond the COVIDS-19 pandemic.

A recent PYMNTS report shows that people largely want to maintain the conveniences they’ve come to rely on during the pandemic even as the world returns to normal. Some 80 percent of respondents who have made the digital shift no longer wish to go back to performing everyday activities in the same manner they did pre-pandemic.

The pandemic triggered major changes in retail, with 144 million shoppers embracing eCommerce. Further, some 80 percent of consumers think their digital habits will persist long after COID-19.

BNPL platforms are becoming more of a mainstay in the U.S., with 14 percent of eCommerce shoppers using the payment option at checkout. Some eCommerce BNPL users also used the payment option for the online purchase of groceries online.