MANILA - Buy now pay later (BNPL) firm Atome said Tuesday it is planning to move beyond pay-in-3 deferred payments, and will soon launch multi-tenure plans of 6 and 12 months.

Atome said this was in response to strong demand and interest from both retailers and consumers.

The company said merchandise sales through its platform have boomed by 30 times since the service was launched in late 2021.

Atome said its retail network has also grown by 8 times, to include over 1,500 online and offline retailers across fashion, beauty, travel, electronics and sports.

Zine Nedil, general manager of Atome Philippines said the explosive growth of the service showed BNPL is favored by "younger, tech-savvy Gen Zs and millennials."

Unlike traditional credit schemes where interest may be charged on the cost of a purchase over the course of several payments, BNPL schemes are interest-free as long as payments are done on time.

"As the Philippines emerges from the pandemic with dramatic changes in both consumer and retailer mindsets, we’re very excited to roll out new products such as the Atome Card and our multi-tenure products to broaden financial access and better address the needs of underbanked and underserved Filipinos,” said Nedil.

The company said its Atome Card, which gives a pre-approved line of credit of up to P200,000, had over 120,000 registrations during the invite-only phase, with 70 percent of applicants between 25 to 40 years old.

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