Instant Gratification

A closer look at the journey of Atome, a fintech platform that aims to change the way we shop

The saying “Necessity is the mother of invention” rings extremely true for David Chen, CEO of Atome, a Singapore-based buy-now-pay-later platform for products and services.

Chen, whose career began at top tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo, recently left a cushy career in academia to set up Atome in December 2019, with the “aim of creating a better life for consumers through greater financial access and technology.”

When asked how the idea of Atome came about, he reveals,

“As a consumer, I never really understood how credit card late interest charges worked or how much I had to pay when I missed a payment. A few years back, I read about the rising popularity of ‘buy now pay later’ around the world and was curious how it served both consumers and merchants. After exploring the subject, I knew that a similar version of it in Asia could really address and tackle the needs of underserved and underbanked consumers in emerging markets like Indonesia and Vietnam.”

Through this, Chen also realized that younger consumers value transparency, simplicity, and choice and have an aversion to applying for products that charge interest rates and annual fees. “That’s how Atome was born,” recalls Chen. “As for the name, it stands for ‘Available To Me’ and ‘access to more’.”

A Rocky Start

When Atome started in December 2019, Chen initially started pitching the idea to offline merchants. “And then of course, COVID-19 happened. Followed by the circuit breaker. The team had to quickly pivot and change tracks to serve online merchants. Eventually, however, offline merchants started coming to us, asking us to help them digitalize their business so that they could sell both online and offline.”

Another challenge Chen revealed was communicating the concept — and value — of buy now pay later to merchant partners.

“Singapore is already well served by credit and debit cards, as well as a wide range of digital wallets, apps, and payment methods. So why do we need another way to pay? With that challenge in front of us, we spent half a year understanding the pain points and challenges of Gen Z and millennial consumers on budgeting and attitudes towards shopping and paying. We soon came to realize that younger consumers like to shop for products and services to help them express their individuality and identity, but they also want a way to control and manage spending without getting into debt.”

With the insights gathered, Chen and team went through an intense exercise to redesign Atome’s logo, tagline, and entire brand positioning. “For example, our new tagline is #TimeToOwnIt, which can be read in different ways. But at its deepest level, it is playing on the concept of time, as well as a call to action to own your passions and aspirations.”

The Atome Crowd

As with most fintech products, the key segment of Atome’s existing users are comprised of Gen Zs and millennials. “They are mobilefirst and digitally savvy. They value simplicity, convenience, and choice in how they want to shop and pay. And while they like to shop, they also want a way to control and manage spending,” says Chen. “In addition, we are also starting to see a rise in repeat, as well as new usage, which is rewarding to see because it means consumers are happy with the product and recommending it to others.”

As for the not so tech-savvy? “We work closely with our partner merchants to ensure that we provide the necessary training to their in-store staff about Atome and how it works. We also have trained brand ambassadors at key merchants, especially during high traffic periods to help explain what the product does, how it works, and the benefits of shopping and paying with Atome.”

Being new to the market, it’s completely understandable that people will have questions and hesitations before getting on a platform like Atome. To dispel worries and doubts, Chen says, “We are fortunate to be part of the Advance Intelligence Group, which also owns big data and AI company ADVANCE A.I. We leverage our deep understanding and expertise of AI-based credit risk assessment technology to determine the spending limit for each customer. This technology also enables us to accurately identify users who exhibit fraudulent behavior or who are a high credit risk. In developing markets, where a majority of the population are unbanked or underbanked, this technology is also essential to weed out bad actors.”

Greater Things Ahead

While still in its early stages, things are looking promising for Atome (they are currently in six markets — Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and mainland China). “Our goal is to build the biggest merchant network that has breadth and depth of merchant partners in each category,” reveals Chen. “In terms of categories, we focus on beauty (Sephora Beauty, Fresh), fashion (Furla, Aldo, Zara), lifestyle (Marks & Spencer, Eu Yan Sang), home ware (IUIGA), and fitness and travel (Agoda, Fullerton Hotel). We are also strengthening the depth of our merchant network. We hope to offer consumers a comprehensive range of their favorite brands in each category, whether it’s a global, regional, or small business or brand. And in some markets, we also offer our service through partnerships with e-wallets and e-commerce platforms like ezbuy, JD.ID in Indonesia, and Sendo in Vietnam.”