AI agents for business finance: what they can and can't do
What AI agents can do in bookkeeping, close, collections and compliance today, where a person must stay in charge, and how to judge a product.
The short answer
Point-of-sale credit lets your customer buy today and pay over time while a provider pays you upfront; the provider, not you, usually carries the risk that the customer does not repay. In exchange you pay a fee on each sale, so it makes sense when the extra sales and larger baskets are worth more than the fee. Spaces from Pryme is one way to offer it in Nigeria: businesses join Spaces, Pryme's merchant network; customers who have accepted a Spaces limit, lent by Solid Allianze Microfinance Bank, can spend it only with those businesses; and the business is paid for the sale.
Why offering credit at the till lifts sales
Many customers walk away not because they do not want what you sell, but because the full price does not fit this week's cash. A mother buying a month of medicine, a parent paying a term's fees, a young professional who wants a new phone before payday. Letting them spread the cost turns some of those walk-aways into sales.
The best evidence comes from controlled experiments. A study by Tobias Berg and co-authors, published in the Journal of Financial Economics in 2025, randomly offered buy now, pay later (BNPL) at an online retailer and found it raised sales by about 20%. The increase came mainly from customers with weaker credit, who would otherwise struggle to pay in full, and was larger for products where the merchant had more pricing power. The authors concluded that for the merchant the benefits clearly outweighed the costs.
Other research points the same way. A Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond brief notes that BNPL is associated with higher retail conversion and larger average tickets, and an NBER study by Di Maggio, Katz and Williams found that access to BNPL raised shoppers' total spending, and their spending at retailers in particular. Industry figures are higher still, but they come from providers with an interest in the number, so treat them with care.
Why it matters more in Nigeria
Credit cards are uncommon, so the usual way richer markets spread a purchase is not available to most of your customers. EFInA's 2026 survey found only 10% of Nigerian adults use formal credit, and the fastest-growing reasons for borrowing are everyday needs such as rent, medical bills and school fees. Traders have long filled the gap themselves by letting trusted customers "pay small small". Point-of-sale credit does the same thing without you becoming the lender.
How merchant-side pay-later works
The details vary by provider, but the structure is usually the same.
- The customer chooses to pay with a credit option at your till, on your website or by scanning a code.
- The provider checks the customer's limit and confirms the purchase, often in seconds.
- The customer leaves with the goods or receives the service.
- The provider pays you the purchase price, minus its fee, on an agreed schedule.
- The customer repays the provider over time. You are not involved in collecting.
- Credit risk
- With most BNPL arrangements, the provider carries the risk that the customer does not repay. Check whether the agreement is "non-recourse" (the provider cannot claw money back from you if the customer defaults) or "with recourse".
- Settlement
- When the money reaches your account: same day, next day, or in batches. Faster settlement is better for cash flow, especially for low-margin businesses that restock daily.
- Merchant fee
- A percentage of each sale (sometimes plus a fixed amount) that you pay for the provider taking the risk and bringing customers. It is usually higher than card acceptance fees. In the United States, the consumer regulator found BNPL merchant fees averaged 2.49% in 2021; Nigerian fees will differ.
- Refunds and returns
- If a customer returns an item, you refund the provider rather than the customer, and the provider adjusts what the customer owes. Agree the process and timelines in advance.
- Disputes and chargebacks
- Card payments can be reversed through the card scheme. With pay-later, a customer dispute usually goes to the provider first, which decides how to handle it. Ask what happens to money already settled to you.
- Customer pricing
- Whether the customer pays interest, a fee or nothing is set by the provider. Your shelf price should be the same however the customer pays.
How the provider decides who gets credit
You do not assess the customer; the provider does. Some providers run a check at the till each time, which can mean a customer is declined in front of others. Others give customers a limit in advance, based on their payment and account history, so the customer knows before arriving what they can spend. Pre-set limits make for a calmer counter: fewer declines, fewer questions, and no forms. Either way, you should not see the customer's financial details, and you should not need to.
Why settlement speed matters
If you buy stock with cash every morning, the gap between making a sale and receiving the money is a real cost. A provider that settles the next day effectively asks you to lend it the price for a day; one that settles weekly asks for a week. For a business turning stock over quickly, that can matter as much as the fee. When you compare providers, put the fee and the settlement time side by side.
Your options compared
Pay-later is one of several ways to help customers who cannot pay the full price today. Each puts the cost and risk in a different place.
| Option | When you get paid | Who carries non-payment risk | Cost to you | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash or bank transfer in full | Immediately | Nobody | Little or nothing | Customers who can pay now |
| Card instalments (bank card plans) | Usually in full, via the card acquirer | The card-issuing bank | Card fees; sometimes an extra instalment fee | The minority of customers with credit cards or card instalment plans |
| Layaway (customer pays in parts before collecting) | In parts, before handover | Nobody, but you hold stock | Storage, tied-up stock, admin | Big-ticket items, festive seasons |
| In-house credit ("pay small small" to the shop) | In parts, after handover | You | Defaults, collection time, strained relationships | Long-standing customers you know well |
| BNPL or point-of-sale credit provider | In full, minus a fee, per the provider's schedule | Usually the provider | Merchant fee per sale | Customers who want the item now and can repay over weeks |
| Customer's own loan (loan app or salary advance) | In full, immediately | The lender | None to you | When the customer arranges credit before visiting |
Many merchants run several of these side by side. A pharmacy might take transfers from most customers, keep a small credit book for regular patients and offer pay-later for larger prescriptions.
Doing the numbers
The question is simple: will the extra sales and larger baskets earn more gross profit than the fee costs? Here is an illustration with made-up figures.
- A shop sells ₦2,000,000 a month at a 25% gross margin, so gross profit is ₦500,000.
- It starts offering pay-later. Suppose 20% of sales, ₦400,000, now go through it, at an illustrative fee of 3%. The fee costs ₦12,000 a month.
- To cover ₦12,000 at a 25% margin, the shop needs ₦48,000 of extra sales, which is 2.4% of its original monthly sales.
- If pay-later lifts sales by anything like the 20% seen in the Berg study, the fee is easily covered. If it mostly shifts customers who would have paid in full anyway, the shop is simply paying more to be paid.
Hidden costs and benefits
- Faster settlement reduces the need for your own overdraft or supplier credit.
- No credit book means no time spent chasing debtors and no awkward conversations.
- Staff need a few minutes of training; the first weeks may be slower at the till.
- Returns become a three-way process, which needs a clear routine.
- Customers who can spread the cost may return more often.
Does it suit your business?
Pay-later works best where purchases are necessary or valued, larger than a typical day's spending, and repeat. It works less well for very small, low-margin purchases where the fee eats most of the profit.
| Business | Why it can help | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmacies | Medicine cannot wait for payday; larger monthly prescriptions | Thin margins on some lines; regulated pricing on some products |
| Schools | Term fees are large, lumpy and due at the same time for every family | Fee schedules and refund rules if a child withdraws |
| Clinics and diagnostics | Treatment is urgent; bills are unpredictable | Clear quotes before treatment; handling partial refunds |
| Supermarkets and shops | Bigger monthly shops; household items and electronics | Low margins on staples; set a sensible minimum basket |
| Eateries | Group meals, events, regular lunch customers | Small tickets mean the fee matters more |
| Salons and spas | Bridal and event packages, regular treatments | Package refunds if appointments are missed |
| Hotels and serviced offices | Multi-night stays and monthly desks | Deposits, cancellations and partial stays |
Questions to ask yourself
- How many customers leave or buy less because they cannot pay in full today?
- What is my gross margin on the products customers would buy this way?
- Am I already giving informal credit, and what does it cost me in bad debts?
- How much does slow or uncertain payment cost me in supplier terms or overdraft?
- Can my staff explain the option clearly and fairly to customers?
The rules that affect you as a merchant
You are not the lender, but you are part of the transaction, so a few rules touch you.
- Choose a properly regulated provider. Digital consumer lenders must be registered with the FCCPC under the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations, 2025, or be licensed by the CBN. The FCCPC expects platforms and partners to take reasonable steps to ensure the lenders they work with comply, and can direct them to stop dealing with those that do not.
- Credit must be opt-in. The 2025 Regulations prohibit automatic or pre-authorised lending. Offer the option; never sign a customer up for it or push them into it.
- Fair pricing. Under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, prices should be clear and not misleading. Charging credit customers a higher shelf price than cash customers, without disclosing it, risks a complaint.
- Card acceptance fees are the merchant's. The CBN's April 2026 draft revision of its Guide to Charges proposes a merchant service charge of 0.5% per transaction, capped at ₦10,000, borne by the merchant, and no charges to customers at point-of-sale terminals. Check the final version once issued.
- Data protection. If you collect customer details for credit, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 applies. Collect only what the provider needs and keep it secure.
- Tax. The sale is your revenue at the full price; the provider's fee is a cost of doing business. Ask your accountant how to record both.
Onboarding checklist
Whichever provider you choose, these steps will get you live with fewer surprises.
- Confirm the provider's licence or FCCPC registration, and who exactly is the lender.
- Get the full merchant fee in writing, including any fixed fees, minimums and monthly charges.
- Confirm settlement timing and which account receives the money.
- Read the risk terms: is it non-recourse, and when can money be clawed back?
- Agree the refund, return and dispute process, with timelines.
- Prepare your documents: typically CAC registration, a tax identification number, director or owner identification and a business account in the business's name.
- Check how customers will pay: QR code, payment link, till integration or online checkout.
- Train staff to explain the option plainly, including that the customer repays the provider.
- Display the option at the counter, on your price lists and in your messages to customers.
- Review results after 30 and 90 days: share of sales, average basket, repeat visits and fee cost.
Running it well after launch
Most of the benefit depends on what happens at the counter in the first few months. A credit option nobody mentions does nothing, and one that staff push too hard creates complaints.
Present it as a choice, not a sales tactic
Mention the option once, at the moment price becomes a concern: "You can pay in full now, or spread it if that suits you better." Do not tell customers how much they are approved for, do not suggest they spend up to their limit, and never complete a credit purchase on a customer's behalf. Credit has to be the customer's own decision, both under the 2025 rules and for your reputation. A customer who regrets a purchase on credit tends to blame the shop as well as the lender.
Protect yourself against fraud
- Let the customer complete the payment on their own phone or device; staff should never handle a customer's PIN or login.
- Wait for the provider's confirmation before handing over goods, as you would with a transfer.
- Be careful with high-value, easily resold items such as phones and electronics bought by first-time customers in a hurry.
- Keep receipts and confirmation references for every credit sale so you can match them against settlements.
- Report suspicious patterns to the provider quickly; most agreements set out who bears fraud losses, so read that section.
Reconcile settlements every week
Pay-later adds a new kind of incoming payment: one settlement may cover many sales, already net of fees. Match each settlement to the individual sales it covers, record the fee as a separate cost, and follow up quickly on anything missing. If you use bookkeeping software or a finance assistant, set up a rule for this from the start. A weekly check takes minutes; finding a gap six months later takes days.
Measure what changed
Compare a few numbers before and after you started: total monthly sales, average basket on pay-later against cash, the share of sales on credit, how often pay-later customers return, and the total fee paid. If basket sizes and repeat visits rise while the fee stays a small share of gross profit, keep going and promote it more. If credit sales are mostly customers who used to pay in full, with no change in total sales, the option is costing you money and you should rethink where you offer it, for example only above a minimum basket.
Wind down your informal credit book
Many Nigerian businesses already lend informally to regular customers. Once a provider can offer those customers credit, you can stop extending new informal credit and collect what is outstanding. Money that was tied up in other people's debts goes back into stock, and the provider, not you, has the difficult conversations about late payment.
Where Spaces fits
Spaces is Pryme's merchant network for pay-later, available in Nigeria only, in naira. Businesses join Spaces; customers with a Pryme account can be offered a spending limit based on how they run their account, and they see and accept the full agreement before anything is drawn, so they do not fill in a loan form at your counter. The credit is lent to the customer by Solid Allianze Microfinance Bank Ltd, a CBN-licensed microfinance bank; Pryme Financial provides the technology. Credit decisions draw on Nigeria's licensed credit bureaus, and because the lender is CBN-licensed, its lending sits within the national credit-reporting system, so customers who repay on time build a credit history.
The point that matters most to a business is where that credit can be spent. A Spaces limit can be used only with businesses that have joined Spaces; it cannot be spent elsewhere. Every customer holding Spaces credit is therefore a customer who can spend it only inside the network, and joining puts your business among the places they can use it. That is the difference from a general-purpose loan, which a customer can take to any shop.
Participating categories include groceries and retail, eateries, pharmacies, transport, cinemas, spas and salons, schools, hotels and serviced offices. Spaces merchant terms, including the fee, settlement timing, refunds and how to join, are not published in this guide; ask for them in writing at support@mypryme.com and check them against the onboarding checklist above.
For payments that are not on credit, Checkout takes bank transfers free of charge. A Pryme business account, which can be opened from any country, comes with Finance, Sales and Customer Support agents that prepare work for a person on your team to approve, and Multi-Account lets you keep sales, tax and stock money apart. For the customer's side of Spaces, see Credit without a loan form; for collecting payments generally, see How to get paid in Nigeria. To talk about becoming a participating business, contact us.
Go deeper
- Pay-later merchant fees in Nigeria: what you payWhat Nigerian businesses pay to offer buy now, pay later: how merchant fees are built, market benchmarks, a worked break-even and what to ask a provider.
- Pay-later and average order value: what to expectWhat the research says about buy now, pay later and basket size, why provider claims run high, and how a Nigerian business can measure the real effect.
- Pay-later for pharmacies in NigeriaHow a Nigerian pharmacy can let patients spread the cost of medicine without running a credit book: where it helps, the numbers, and what to watch.
- Pay-later for private schools: fees without the chaseHow Nigerian private schools can be paid in full at the start of term while parents spread fees: the options, a worked example and what to agree first.
- Pay-later for restaurants and eateriesWhen pay-later makes sense for a Nigerian restaurant, canteen or caterer, when the fee eats the margin, and how consumption tax and VAT affect the sums.
- Pay-later for salons, spas and gymsHow Nigerian salons, spas and gyms can use pay-later for packages and memberships: where it pays, a worked example, and the refund risk to plan for.
- Pay-later for hotels and serviced apartmentsHow Nigerian hotels and serviced apartments can take pay-later on longer stays and events: deposits, cancellations, tax and a worked example.
- How merchant settlement works with pay-laterWhen a Nigerian business gets paid for pay-later sales: settlement timing, net versus gross, refunds, clawbacks, the cost of waiting and reconciliation.
- Running your own store credit vs using a pay-later providerShould a Nigerian shop keep its own credit book or use a pay-later provider? The true cost of each, a worked comparison, and how to switch over.
- How to tell customers you offer pay-laterWhere to show pay-later in a Nigerian shop, what staff should and should not say, sample wording, and the FCCPC rules on credit marketing to follow.
Questions people ask
How can I accept buy now pay later in my shop in Nigeria?
Sign up with a point-of-sale credit or BNPL provider that is registered with the FCCPC or licensed by the CBN. You will usually need CAC registration, a tax ID and a business account. The provider gives you a way for customers to pay, such as a QR code, link or till integration.
Who pays if the customer does not repay?
With most BNPL arrangements the provider carries the risk and you keep the money you were paid. Some agreements allow the provider to recover money from you in certain cases, such as fraud or disputes. Check whether your agreement is non-recourse before you sign.
Does offering pay small small increase sales?
Research suggests it does. A randomised study published in 2025 found BNPL raised a retailer's sales by about 20%, mostly from customers who could not easily pay in full. The effect varies by sector and price point, so measure it in your own business.
How much does it cost a merchant to offer BNPL?
Providers charge a fee on each sale, usually a percentage and higher than card acceptance fees. In the US, BNPL merchant fees averaged 2.49% in 2021; Nigerian providers set their own. Work out your break-even: the share of sales on pay-later times the fee, divided by your gross margin.
When do I get paid?
That depends on the provider: some settle the same day, others the next day or in batches. Faster settlement is better for cash flow if you restock often. Get the timing in writing.
What happens if a customer returns something bought on credit?
You usually refund the provider rather than the customer, and the provider reduces or cancels what the customer owes. Agree the process and timelines before you start. A clear routine avoids double refunds.
Can I charge customers more if they pay later?
Keep one shelf price however the customer pays. The provider sets any cost to the customer, and raising your price for credit customers without telling them risks a consumer protection complaint. Treat the merchant fee as a cost of making the sale.
Sources
- Berg, Burg, Keil and Puri: The Economics of Buy Now, Pay Later: A Merchant's Perspective (NBER w33152; Journal of Financial Economics, 2025) · accessed Oct 2026
- Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond: Buy Now, Pay Later: Market impact and policy considerations (Economic Brief 25-03) · accessed Oct 2026
- Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond: Econ Focus Q4 2024 feature on BNPL · accessed Oct 2026
- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta: CFPB releases report on buy now, pay later · accessed Oct 2026
- CFPB: Buy Now, Pay Later market trends and consumer impacts (2022) · accessed Oct 2026
- FCCPC: Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations, 2025 · accessed Oct 2026
- Templars: The FCCPC sets deadline for registration of digital lenders (Nov 2025) · accessed Oct 2026
- Candide-Johnson: Nigeria's new banking charges framework (CBN 2026 exposure draft) · accessed Oct 2026
- MSME Africa: CBN caps banking charges to reduce costs for MSMEs (Apr 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- ThisDay: Nigerians turning to survival loans as consumption borrowing jumps (EFInA A2F 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.