Festive season shopping can be expensive and stressful at the best of times, with countless friends and family members to please, but thanks to uncertain global conditions, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a seemingly-endless COVID-19 pandemic, it’s become that much harder. It’s been forecast that global growth will slow from 6.0% in 2021 to 2.7% in 2023.
The result has been inflation hitting a 13-year high in South Africa, reaching 7.4% in June 2022. It’s not just a loss in purchasing power we’re struggling with, however. Debt is a huge problem too. A recent Business Tech survey revealed that 76% of South Africans save less than 15% of their salaries, while data from debt counsellor, DebtBusters, shows that consumers in South Africa need to spend around 63% of their take-home pay to service their debt. With all of this stacked against us, South Africans are struggling to splurge on Christmas presents this year, and merchants have it hard too.
Nobody needs more debt. What shoppers need is an interest-free alternative to credit cards or short-term loans, which allows them to pay for their purchases in instalments. They need lay-by.
What is lay-by?
Put simply, lay-by follows the concept of “Save Now, Buy Later”. This means that you secure your desired product or service by putting down a deposit, and then paying the remaining balance in instalments and without interest. Once you’ve paid the final instalment, you receive your product.
This is already a familiar concept to many South Africans. We’ve had in-store lay-by for decades, but with the growth of ecommerce and digital payments, many began to look for an online alternative. We did too. That’s why we developed LayUp. Already on offer in dozens of physical and digital stores, our digital lay-by is a more accessible, more financially responsible, payment alternative for South African shoppers and merchants.
What are the benefits of lay-by?
There are many excellent reasons why you as a consumer or merchant should consider digital lay-by as a payment solution this festive season. Here are four:
1. Makes budgeting easy
If you’re looking to manage your finances responsibly, the Save Now, Buy Later model that lay-by offers is a great way to make a large purchase, while keeping within your monthly budget. Be sure to choose an option that has low setup fees to get the most out of this solution.
2. Shop interest-free
With some in-store credit solutions, you can end up paying almost double your product’s original cost, and even the best credit cards and short-term loans incur some level of fees and interest. Using lay-by as a payment solution is the only interest-free way you can sell or purchase products beside cash.
Learn how to purchase a new bed interest-free with Dial a Bed
3. Perfect for the festive season
With the vast number of expenses that surround Christmas, buying presents on lay-by is a fantastic way to buy gifts before they go out of stock, while responsibly reducing the financial burden of the festive season.
Read more: Lay-by Holidays? With LayUp & Mdluli Safari Lodge It’s Possible
4. Reduced risk
Unlike Buy Now, Pay Later options, with lay-by, you don’t have to worry about additional charges, plus you also have the option to cancel the order, since you haven’t received the product yet. However, you may lose your service fee, and could face a cancellation fee.
Choosing an online payment solution
While there are several different online payment solutions, it’s important to consider what they offer, as not all are created equal. Unlike some offerings, our LayUp payments solution is free to use, interest-free, and with no credit checks. This makes it easier for you to buy (or sell) those high-ticket items you could otherwise only have dreamed of for Christmas!
We have a wide range of payment systems to suit merchants of every size or scale. Join the growing number of LayUp stores, ranging from Dial a Bed and weFix to Tintswalo Lodges, who trust us with providing their customers with a convenient and responsible payment option, and choose LayUp this festive season to ensure you can buy the Christmas presents you really want.
References:
- https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO
- https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/608892/inflation-hits-13-year-high-in-south-africa-here-are-8-things-that-are-much-more-expensive/
- https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/551964/heres-how-much-money-south-africans-are-saving-for-retirement/
