Buy Now Pay Later Application Development

Duration: 1–3 weeks.

1. Communicating with key project stakeholders to discuss the BNPL app vision.
2. Analyzing the needs of the client’s target audience to perform requirements engineering and outline the scope of the BNPL application.
3. Introducing a detailed list of requirements for the application, which describes:
   • The required platform to base the app on (web, mobile, or both).
   • Functional capabilities the app is expected to provide, e.g., support for particular installment plans, loan repayment methods, in-app purchases, virtual cards, and more.
   • The data the app should be able to process (customers’ personal information, payment card data, SKU data, etc.).
   • Role-specific requirements for the UX and UI.
   • Non-functional requirements, including security and compliance requirements.

Duration: 1–2 weeks.

• Defining objectives, KPIs, and milestones for the project.
• Determining project deliverables, duration, and budget.
• Forming the project team and designing collaboration workflows.
• Outlining possible project risks, introducing a risk mitigation strategy and plan.
• Estimating the expected TCO and ROI of the BNPL application.

Duration: 3–6 weeks.

1. Designing the architecture of a BNPL app and its integration points.
2. Introducing an optimal feature set.
3. Designing UX and UI for customers, merchants, a BNPL service provider. It comprises:
   • UX research to understand the behavior of the app’s target audience.
   • Creating functional wireframes and content layouts for the app.
   • UX prototyping.
   • Designing the app’s visual appearance and introducing UI mockups.
4. Delivering a plan of BNPL app integrations with the required systems, suggesting optimal ready-to-use integration solutions (particular payment gateway APIs, credit rating platform APIs, etc.), if needed.

Duration: 2–3 weeks.

ScienceSoft’s best practice: We use platforms, frameworks, and ready-made components (e.g., UI components, authentication services) where possible to streamline Buy Now Pay Later app development and optimize project cost.

Duration: 5–8+ months, depending on the app’s complexity.

1. Establishing development and delivery automation environments (CI/CD, container orchestration, etc.).
2. Creating the back-end code of a BNPL app, including API code.
3. Delivering role-specific user interfaces.
4. Performing unit tests in parallel with coding.
5. Integrating the app with the required systems.
6. Conducting functional, including integration, and non-functional app testing.
7. Configuring the BNPL app’s infrastructure, backup and recovery procedures.
8. Implementing infrastructure security tools (authorization controls for APIs, firewalls, DDoS protection algorithms, etc.).
9. Deploying the BNPL application in the production environment.
10. Uploading the app to the required web or mobile app stores.

Duration: continuous.

• Maintaining app compliance with the required data security standards and regulations.
• Fixing app performance, scalability, and security issues, if any.
• Adjusting the app’s functionality to the changing customer needs (e.g., adding new loan repayment methods).

Duration: 1–3 weeks.

1. Analyzing the merchant’s needs to be met with BNPL integration.
2. Auditing the software to be integrated to understand its capabilities and constraints.
3. Assessing the maturity of the merchant’s existing IT infrastructure.
4. Introducing a detailed list of functional and non-functional requirements for the integration.

Duration: 1–2 weeks.

• Defining objectives, KPIs, and milestones for the project.
• Determining project deliverables, duration, and budget.
• Forming the project team and designing collaboration workflows.
• Outlining possible project risks, introducing a risk mitigation strategy and plan.
• Estimating the expected TCO and ROI of the integration.

Duration: 2–5 weeks.

1. Deciding on the best-fitting approach to the buy now pay later integration:
   • Hosted integration – the customer is redirected away from the checkout page at the merchant’s platform to the BNPL service provider's website to complete a payment. After the payment is complete, the customer is redirected back to the platform.
   • Self-hosted integration – merchant’s clients don’t need to leave a platform’s checkout page to complete a purchase. A white-label BNPL solution integrates directly into the platform via ready-to-use or custom APIs, and the entire checkout process takes place within the platform.
2. Selecting an optimal market-available BNPL solution according to the merchant’s specific criteria and business priorities.

   ScienceSoft’s best practice: BNPL service providers typically charge a merchant account setup fee and a fee for transaction processing services (a monthly fee or a fee for each transaction processed). The solutions they offer differ in cost, functionality, integration methods, and the level of security. We at ScienceSoft perform a detailed comparative analysis of possible solutions to help our clients access the required features and minimize the costs of relying on BNPL services.

3. Defining the proper BNPL integration solution depending on the selected approach to integration:
   • A BNPL button, redirect scripts, and webhooks to embed into the checkout interface.
   • Ready-to-use integration APIs provided with a market-available BNPL solution.
   • Custom APIs to smoothly connect a BNPL solution to the merchant’s selling platform(s).
4. Designing the architecture of both the integrated system and an integration solution.
5. Designing a custom UI of a checkout page (optional).

Duration: 2–3 weeks.

ScienceSoft defines the techs and tools required to integrate BNPL functionality in a merchant’s selling platform(s), compares various integration techs and tools in the context of the documented business requirements, and selects the optimal ones.

Duration: 2–8 weeks, depending on the chosen integration pattern.

NB: Prior to the integration implementation, the merchant needs to establish a merchant account with a BNPL service provider.

1. Developing the appropriate Buy Now Pay Later integration solution.
2. Quality assurance of the BNPL integration.
3. Implementing authorization controls for APIs, transaction validity confirmation mechanisms, DDoS protection algorithms, and other cybersecurity tools to protect sensitive data transferred between the BNPL app and the online store.
4. BNPL integration solution deployment in the production environment.

Duration: continuous.

• Monitoring the integrated system performance.
• Fixing scalability issues, if any.
• Extending an integration solution’s functionality based on a merchant’s evolving needs.