ShopeePay Dives Into BNPL Stereotypes by Revealing Real Stories Behind the Spending

BNPL users often face criticism, their financial habits reduced to cold statistics while the human stories behind these transactions remain invisible. Now, with 6.5 million active BNPL accounts in Malaysia, ShopeePay's 'Fikir Sekarang, Bayar Kemudian’ campaign brings these overlooked narratives to light by pairing financial education with real, authentic stories. 

As BNPL becomes a crucial credit alternative, especially for the underserved, its ease of accessibility demands greater financial aptitude. ShopeePay is addressing this need head-on, ensuring digital convenience goes hand-in-hand with responsible spending habits during Malaysia’s rapid adoption of digital financing.

Grounding the Campaign in Industry first Data

While public discourse often frames BNPL through a lens of concern, questioning spending habits and financial responsibility, ShopeePay took a different approach by listening to those who use it most: their customers. 

This user-first philosophy drove ShopeePay to conduct a large-scale BNPL behaviour study, surveying ~40,000 SPayLater users. The findings revealed a stark contrast to common assumptions, including that: -

• 81% of respondents used SPayLater for emergencies;
• 63% had formerly needed to rely on informal lending to get by (e.g. pawn shops, unlicensed loans); and
• 55% have no access to credit outside of BNPL

The published findings sparked significant conversations across traditional, digital and social media, including an X post by BFM that garnered over 600K views and stirred netizen engagement. These discussions grew organically as real users shared their own stories on how BNPL has helped their families during emergencies, allowed them to afford higher-cost essentials  and even using it to save money with vouchers and bulk-buying discounts.

In another eye-catching post, an X user shared how SPayLater helped him manage his cashflow and save on his large ticket purchase. This led to a cycle of organic user conversations, with netizens sharing financial tips, philosophies and educating one another with greater authenticity and sincerity than what brands can achieve alone.  

As these BNPL discussions dominated social feeds nationwide, ShopeePay steered the conversation toward its core mission: educating Malaysians about responsible finances while shedding light on the human stories behind BNPL use.

This led to the creation of authentic content featuring real SPayLater users, through both an ongoing social media video series and in-depth articles that delved into the individual circumstances and thought processes of each user. These unfiltered stories became the campaign’s most powerful tool for resonating with and educating the Malaysians.

Launched early this week, the video series kicks off with a powerful compilation of real SPayLater users sharing how the service helped them through critical moments, like replacing a lightning-struck refrigerator, buying a car battery to keep working, fixing a food delivery rider’s motorbike, and purchasing urgent medical supplies. Each story resonates differently, with some bringing laughter, others tugging at heartstrings. All these videos feature unfiltered, authentic storytelling from Malaysians who’ve made BNPL work for their real lives.

Turning Questions into Conversation 

The narratives were complemented with direct-response social content, producing snackable videos that answered frequently asked questions. Topics ranged from practical budgeting tips and BNPL-versus-credit-card comparisons to using BNPL responsibly for essentials like insurance. 

Designed to spark dialogue, these videos transformed financial education into community conversation. The ongoing series on the brand’s social media pages has achieved over 6.5 million plays, with hundreds of users exchanging tips and sharing personal financial experiences.

A New Benchmark for Responsible Lending

As digital lending grows increasingly accessible, ShopeePay’s campaign demonstrates how financial innovation can (and must) be paired with responsible education. By combining hard data with human stories and direct financial guidance, ShopeePay has set a new standard where convenience doesn’t compromise consumer awareness, and where every BNPL transaction begins with informed confidence.