There’s no doubt that Covid has changed almost every facet of online shopping. Apart from an ecommerce boom causing growth in Kenya of 6% to 10% across most product categories (source- UNCTAD, Netcomm Suisse e-Commerce Association, NIC.br and Inveon), the need for payments in installments has also been on the rise due to the effects of the pandemic to the economy.

In a bid to not get left behind in this shift, we developed the first of its kind in Africa API toolkit set to facilitate merchants to accept payments in instalments from customers, which is now ready and available.

The Lipa Later API (application programming interface) is basically a suite of integration tools that enables merchants to integrate to, and offer their customers a pay later payment option on any digital point of sale checkout, meaning that customers can shop instantly and seamlessly online, and pay later.

Our digital payment method will therefore enable these merchants and payment service providers to offer a seamless way for their customers to pay for goods and services in affordable monthly installments.

So what’s the big fuss about the Lipa Later API?

1. It’s a strategic way of increasing sales and revenues for all our merchants by an average of 30%, as well as their average order value, as the purchasing power of customers is increased
2. This will offer customers various payment options to select from on any online checkout 
3. We have built a complete and simple toolkit with the best-in-class technology for merchants to easily embed the Lipa Later payment option on their websites and platforms
4. Efficient and instant credit facilities- We’ve built a robust credit scoring and machine learning model that enables analysing an applicant’s credit worthiness in a matter of seconds
5. Availability of the API in all our current and future markets- This will empower millions of consumers to access convenient and affordable credit, and for merchants- increased sales, customer retention and long-term loyalty

Integration options:

We understand that one size doesn’t necessarily fit all, we therefore developed two options that online merchants can choose from that best suits their current way of operations:

1. REST API – For Techies, follow this link here and if you are not, don’t worry, we have broken it down for you. This is suitable for merchants that want to control the entire user experience on their websites. With this API, merchants can effectively add Lipa Later as a payment option, and customize the payment option journey to their brand guidelines and liking.  
2. Lipa Later Widget – Find the link to the widget documentation here. This is a lightweight popup that merchants can embed on their websites to offer their customers an instant line of credit, with no customization or much integration resources required from the merchant’s end.

We are rolling out this checkout option to our existing merchants with ecommerce platforms. We are also excited and beginning to focus on local and international ecommerce merchants now that we have introduced a seamless way of shopping affordably to their customers.

We are happy to bring affordable living online.

Stay tuned!

For more information, reach us on ask@54.195.58.147 or check us out on www.lipalater.com

READ MORE: Tech Lead Njunge Njenga touches on quarter plans and talks more on Lipa Later API