So, to cater to this very fundamental challenge for the consumer and the retailer, Laybuy has built a platform that is very easy for the consumer to sign up and provides them with a weekly payment option.

The consumer buys the product and pays Laybuy one-sixth of the total purchase cost on day one. The remainder is paid off in 5 weekly instalments – interest free. “More and more consumers are seeing Laybuy as the smart way to pay because its interest free,” says Gary Rohloff, Founder and MD, of Laybuy. Laybuy pays the merchant overnight the full transaction value less a Laybuy commission fee.

“To use a simple example, consider a customer who wants to buy a pair of pants that are retailing at (say) one hundred twenty dollars. When they pay by Laybuy it's a twenty dollar purchase on day one and $20 every week for the next 5 weeks. That’s what drives the value for the consumer and the retailer.”

Laybuy assumes all the credit and fraud risk on every transaction and pays every merchant within 48 hours of the purchase. Laybuy has enabled merchants to increase sales and grow their basket size. “We get more than 1.4 million site visits a month, that's generating new customers for our retailers and increased conversion rates too.” says Rohloff.

Having received many complimentary emails from consumers and merchants alike, Rohloff is particularly proud of an email that a mother had sent to Laybuy. The message read, “This is the first time that I have been able to buy my children raincoats at the start of the season and not have to wait till they go on sale to afford them.” The success that the firm has achieved in their short operational term sees them plan to offer their product to Australia by the end of March.

Laybuy’s development team is continually reviewing customer feedback so that they can tweak the offer and make it simpler.