PPRO tap Zip as first BNPL service introduced to payment infrastructure

“We are thrilled to partner with PPRO and become the first Australian BNPL payment method   to be added to their digital payments infrastructure,” says Tommy Mermelshtayn, Chief Strategy Officer at Zip, “This exciting new alliance will allow us to globally scale our partner ecosystem by supporting our core markets, and better manage our partner onboarding process so that our merchants and customers continue to have the frictionless experience they expect from Zip.”

“We’re on a mission to become the first payment choice everywhere and everyday, and partnerships like these will get us there sooner.”

For PPRO, the new partnership is seen as a move to try and gain further ground in the Asia-Pacific e-commerce market, with PPRO’s own data predicting that e-commerce will broadly continue to grow in the years ahead.

“Australia presents an attractive e-commerce landscape where the online retail market is expected to grow by 10.3% CAGR by 2024, with sales projected to reach US$59.4 billion. Our data reveals that Australia is one of the top three cross-border shopping origin markets alongside China, the US, and the UK – this presents big opportunities for merchants targeting cross-border to supercharge their growth potential,” says Tristan Chiappini, Vice President, Partnerships – Head of APAC at PPRO, “It is also interesting to note that Australians are ahead of the curve when it comes to using alternative payment methods, like instant bank transfers, digital wallets, and BNPL products to transact online. In fact, BNPL is becoming increasingly popular in the country.”

“The addition of Zip to our payments mix will allow PPRO to better serve its payment service provider partners and their merchant customers, while enabling greater access to Australian consumers and the country’s booming e-commerce sector.”

Indeed, PPRO and Chiappini predict that the growing turbulence in Australia’s economy will only see the popularity of BNPL services continue to rise.

“Against the backdrop of an inflationary environment, discretionary spending is tightening as the increase in the cost of living remains at the top of people’s minds. We can expect to see further uptake of BNPL as a preferred payment method as it also serves as a budgeting tool, allowing consumers to delay payments and spread costs,” Chiappini tells Power Retail, “Industry experts have also projected that digital lending, including BNPL, is said to hit over US$90 billion in transactions by 2025 in Southeast Asia alone and US$680 billion in Asia Pacific.”

The move is also seen as one that fits within PPRO’s own plan to continue growing and better withstand potential challenges in coming months.

“PPRO has experienced rapid growth over the last two years, obtaining unicorn status in early 2021 and sealing a game-changing deal with the acquisition of Alpha Fintech in early 2022. This acquisition now means that PPRO can provide a more extensive offering that organisations will need in order to build out and expand their payment platforms,” Chiappini says, “We have already seen pressures building on fintechs, payment services providers and technology companies in terms of reduced valuations, a renewed focus on core products and markets at the cost of expansion and in some cases, a reduction of headcount. All of this points to two things, an increase in market consolidation and an accelerated need for partnership in the payments industry.”

“PPRO will continue to work closely with our partners and enhance our digital payments infrastructure to fuel the ever-increasing demand for cross-border ecommerce.”

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