It has been a challenging time for consumers and businesses alike during this period. Consumers are tightening up their finances and becoming more careful with how they spend their money, where they spend their money, and the platforms they use to make their daily purchases and transactions. Many merchants are also struggling to find a sustainable solution to help improve their sales without implementing heavy discounts and impacting their bottom line drastically. The solution? Buy Now Pay Later.
With a market of 32 million people and just 4 million with credit cards in Malaysia, hoolah saw an extraordinary opportunity to bring a responsible solution to underbanked consumers to drive affordability, and maximise their personal cash flow. For consumers, BNPL services like hoolah are a flexible solution to pay one third of the price upfront with the remaining sum spread out over the next two months via debit card or credit card - at zero interest, no processing or hidden fees. This is how hoolah, Asia’s leading omnichannel Buy Now Pay Later ecosystem, has helped retailers tide over, and even prosper by providing their customers with a flexible and convenient way to pay, and effectively solving their four key challenges around driving traffic, basket size, conversion and loyalty.
hoolah in Malaysia during the pandemic
Since the first MCO was initiated, numerous retailers have been forced to shut down their physical stores and pivot to e-commerce to continue reaching out to existing and new customers. With the country's recovery appearing to be far off once more, plenty more changes are expected to come our way this year.
Famous retail chains like Singapore's Robinsons have shuttered its physical stores but has most recently set up an e-commerce presence. Similarly, many local retail businesses have also pivoted online in order to survive the pandemic. Luckily, amidst these challenges, Malaysia’s online retail sales grew by 28.9% in April 2020, as consumers took their shopping online for convenience and safety. Riding on this e-commerce wave, hoolah has continued to gain traction and boost growth, while bringing benefits to both consumers and retailers.
Since launching in Malaysia in 2019, hoolah has already brought on major brands like Bonia, Jurlique, Pestle & Mortar, and local favourites like Al-Ikhsan, Bata, FashionValet, and Inhanna into their ever-growing ecosystem. Currently, hoolah works with over 400 merchant partners in Malaysia, ranging from fashion, beauty, home & living to kids, and many more.
Boosting sales in spite of a pandemic: hoolah success stories
Retailers see a number of benefits when it comes to partnering with hoolah, and have reported an average of 20% to 40% increase in conversion and basket size.
Since collaborating with FashionValet's online store in 2019, hoolah now represents 15% of their orders. They have seen continued growth in the number of transactions made using hoolah month on month since the partnership, proven by the increase in the total usage or order ratio contributed by hoolah when it grew from 8% to 15% since the launch. Their solid organisation even drove hoolah to support its sister brand dUCK.
In the case of Focus Point, hoolah has now helped increase their average basket size by 15% to 50% per purchase. Customers who made purchases using hoolah were willing to spend an average of RM187 per purchase prior to offering the BNPL option. Being able to use hoolah gives Focus Point customers payment flexibility, which allows them to invest in quality eyewear and accessories they need.
For TTRacing, they saw a 30% increase in basket size, with 75% of TTRacing purchases via hoolah made using debit cards since their partnership in October 2020. hoolah’s flexible payment method has empowered a younger group of customers – a demographic that is traditionally not qualified for credit cards. TTRacing was thus able to grow a new customer base of loyal customers, lowering cost of acquisition significantly and achieving greater return on investment.
In fact, hoolah has witnessed tremendous growth in the last year - having seen 600% increase in order volume, it is a win-win solution for everyone in its ecosystem. With hoolah, Malaysian retailers now have a solution that is proven to deliver these outcomes at a fraction of the cost, without having to heavily discount or spend more dollars on marketing.
#supportlocal businesses with hoolah
For homegrown businesses that are looking for support, hoolah has also partnered with Visa to support local small and micro businesses (SMBs) in Malaysia to grow their e-commerce social presence and speed up their business recovery. By providing consumers with its BNPL payment solution, they are hoping to help these SMBs boost their online presence while enabling Malaysians to shop and #supportlocal with a flexible BNPL option. Not to mention, this initiative also aligns with the Malaysian government’s efforts to accelerate digital payment adoption among consumers and retailers.
Now you know how this fintech solution has helped Malaysian retail brands boost their growth during a pandemic, while helping consumers spread out their payments, you can try out their service to get the things you want and need today via hoolah’s Buy Now, Pay Later solution.
For more information, log onto hoolah.co or download the hoolah mobile app on Apple Store and Google Play Store.
