‘By retailers, for retailers’: New Zealand buy-now-pay-later platform Laybuy launches Down Under

New Zealand buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform Laybuy has launched in the Australian market, promising to give Afterpay a run for its money by offering Aussie retailers access to 500,000 Kiwi shoppers.

Laybuy was founded in 2016 by Gary Rohloff and his 23-year-old son Alex Rohloff.

Now, it’s the latest provider boasting better deals for Australian merchants, with Harvey Norman-affiliated Latitude Pay launching last week and Swedish provider Klarna expanding Down Under last month.

Pitching itself as ‘built by retailers, for retailers’, Laybuy has already signed up more than 1,200 retailers Down Under, including Ally Fashion, Senso and Glassons.

Laybuy intends to stand out from the crowd with Laybuy Global, which gives retailers with international shipping access to the half-a-million Kiwi customers signed up to the platform, as well as Laybuy users in the UK.

This feature “allows retailers to sell to the global Laybuy customer base”, Gary Rohloff tells SmartCompany.

“It means retailers don’t need a separate bank account or international website URL.

“Laybuy handles all foreign exchange fees on a retailer’s behalf,” he adds.

The increasing number of players in the space could be bad news for Afterpay, which has established itself as the dominant BNPL provider in Australia. Across the ditch in New Zealand, Laybuy dominates the space, with a track record of wrangling market share from Afterpay.

Whether this experience will help it grow in the Australian market, however, remains to be seen.

Fees, fees, fees

Understandably, when business owners hear yet another BNPL provider is available, they want to know if it will save them money.

Laybuy doesn’t disclose its fees on its website, instead encouraging business owners to reach out for a quote.

“We are generally cheaper than the other providers … we don’t add any additional transaction fees for merchants,” Rohloff says.

Afterpay, on the other hand, is open about its pricing structure, charging merchants a 30-cent fee plus a commission (usually about 4%).

Laybuy customers pay for purchases with six interest-free payments on a weekly repayment schedule.

Customers that miss a payment are charged a $10 late fee and have their account suspended.

“We don’t want to be putting young people into a place where they have an unsustainable debt position,” Rohloff says.

Laybuy also runs a credit check on every customer through Experian, in an effort to minimise risks for retailers and remain “responsible” at its core.

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