Stitch Launches Buy Now Pay Later for South Africa

In Short

• Stitch has launched a Buy Now Pay Later option for South African enterprise and Express merchants.
• Shoppers can split purchases into 2 to 6 interest-free instalments.
• Merchants receive the full transaction value within 24 hours, while Stitch manages repayments.

What Happened

Stitch has introduced Stitch Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) for South African merchants on its payments platform. BNPL is a checkout option that lets a customer take an item now and pay over time, usually in fixed instalments.

With Stitch’s BNPL, customers can pay over 2 to 6 interest-free instalments. The number of instalments depends on the customer’s credit score. Customers complete KYC, which is an identity check, and get approved for a credit limit at checkout without leaving the merchant’s site.

Stitch says it will settle the full value of the purchase to the merchant within 24 hours. That means the merchant gets paid upfront, while Stitch takes on the work of collecting instalments and managing the repayment schedule.

For enterprise merchants, Stitch also positions BNPL as configurable. Merchants can choose when to show the option, for example only above a certain basket size, or as a fallback when a payment fails due to insufficient funds.

Why It Matters

BNPL is growing fast in South Africa because it can convert hesitant shoppers, especially for higher-value items like electronics and household goods. Stitch cites survey data from its upcoming 2026 Consumer Report showing 71% of credit-active shoppers use BNPL with some frequency, and 38.9% tried it for the first time in the last year.

For merchants, the key promise is higher conversion and larger basket sizes, with faster settlement and less repayment risk on their balance sheet. For payments teams, it also adds another tool in the checkout mix, alongside card, bank transfer, and digital wallets.