The Indonesian mobile payment platform Ovo, which also doubles up as Grab’s mobile wallet in Indonesia, launched a ‘pay later’ program that lets users shop at various merchants and postpone the payment for thirty days after the initial purchase, without any extra charge.
From the perspective of shoppers, this has the advantage that multiple bills can be settled at a convenient time.
The feature is already available on Ovo’s e-commerce partner Tokopedia, but now users can also apply Ovo PayLater when shopping at offline merchants that accept Ovo. It’s enabled by online credit and lending firm Taralite, Ovo said in an official statement. Taralite was acquired by Ovo not long ago.
In July, the feature will be upgraded to include a 12-month instalment payment program which will allow shoppers to buy bigger-ticket items.
Ovo PayLater requires users to apply for it first by submitting personal data such as ID. The activation process only takes 5 minutes, according to Ovo.
Grab and Ovo are evidently strengthening their collaboration. A ‘pay later’ feature is also on Grab’s regional roadmap, Grab’s head of financial services told KrASIA in a recent interview. Similar features are likely to show up in Grab’s other regional markets, either under its own GrabPay banner or with a local partner like Ovo.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad
