Through this move, Happy Pay and Peach Payments, an online payment platform, plan to enable online merchants leveraging the latter’s services to provide customers with interest-free, deposit-free payment options through Happy Pay. Additionally, the alliance focuses on South Africa’s evolving ecommerce sector, where flexible payment methods are influencing consumer behaviour. Happy Pay’s instalment solution aims to facilitate access to essential and lifestyle purchases for credit-averse customers or for those who do not qualify for traditional lending.
Furthermore, Happy Pay implements an affordability-based approval system, centring on assisting users in avoiding over-indebtedness. At the same time, instead of depending on credit scores, the platform utilises an algorithm to analyse whether consumers can afford the acquisition. Described by the company as a zero-cost credit, the model focuses on avoiding hidden fees or interest charges for the consumer.
In recent years, more specifically between 2021 and 2024, South Africa’s BNPL market has expanded considerably, with the growth facilitators being the expansion of ecommerce, shifting consumer preferences, and integration into non-traditional sectors. Also, as more companies enter this landscape and more investments are made, the BNPL sector could see strong potential and growth opportunities.
Considering that the BNPL landscape is evolving, the collaboration solidifies Happy Pay’s position in the industry, allowing it to gain access to more merchants through Peach Payments. Processing transactions for online platforms, from SMEs to large enterprises, Peach Payments’ alliance with Happy Pay supports the addition of a BNPL option for merchants already leveraging the company’s system.
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The partnership with Peach Payments follows a USD 1.8 million pre-seed funding for Happy Pay from
September 2024. At that time, the fintech planned to allocate the capital to introduce a suite of new products while also scaling its marketing efforts and broadening its merchant network. Also, Happy Pay sought to expand its workforce while prioritising the development of its operations. One of the investors from the funding, E4E Africa, mentioned that Happy Pay’s strategy for financial inclusion could integrate more South African consumers into the formal financial system and offer them access to improved financing options.
