“Balance helps us solve one of the biggest challenges that we have in the B2B marketplace. Giving buyers the payment flexibility they need without adding any risk or friction.”
– Yiran Li, Head of Customer Retention Strategy, Alibaba.com U.S.
When cash flow constraints keep buyers from buying bigger
Alibaba.com is part of the Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, a global leading B2B ecommerce platform serving sellers and buyers from over 200 countries and regions. Their U.S. buyers had a clear, growing need: more flexible payment options beyond credit cards and traditional wire transfers.
Many of Alibaba.com’s business customers wanted to place bigger orders, but cash flow constraints held them back. For SMEs operating on tight margins, paying upfront for large inventory purchases simply wasn’t feasible — especially amid ongoing tariff pressures and economic uncertainty. The gap between buyer intent and buyer ability was costing Alibaba.com growth.
“We saw a clear need from our US buyers that they want more flexible payment options that go beyond credit card and traditional wire transfers. A lot of our business owners want to place bigger orders on Alibaba, but they have cash flow constraint issues.”
Designing a program to remove the barrier
Alibaba.com needed a way to give buyers dedicated financing to fund their purchases exactly when they need it – embedded directly in the platform where they’re already buying. The solution had to handle credit decisioning and risk, integrate seamlessly into the existing checkout, and deliver a frictionless buyer experience.
The result was “Pay Later for Business,” a program designed to remove the cash flow barrier and let businesses grow without worrying about upfront costs.
“Pay Later for Business is designed to remove that barrier and let those businesses grow without the concern about the cash flow.”
Why Balance was the right partner
Alibaba.com chose Balance for its deep expertise in B2B payments and its ability to move fast without compromising flexibility. Balance brought the financial infrastructure, AI-powered credit risk management, and embedded checkout experience that Alibaba.com needed, without requiring them to build lending or financing capabilities from scratch.
Behind the scenes, Balance powers the entire financing experience: real-time credit assessment, instant decisioning, revolving credit management, payment processing, and full credit risk coverage. Alibaba.com gets a turnkey embedded financing program; their buyers get purchasing power delivered right at the moment of checkout.
“Balance brings deep expertise into the B2B payment space. They’re very responsive, very fast, and everything has been super flexible. They are always able to work together with us because we’re working towards the same goal, which is to make this program successful.”
A seamless, fully embedded experience
The implementation came together quickly, thanks to Balance’s robust APIs and pre-built hosted components. In just three streamlined steps, Alibaba.com launched a seamless Pay Later experience:
- A Balance-hosted credit application embedded in each customer’s “My Alibaba” page
- Balance integrated as a payment method at checkout via API
- Balance’s self-service payment portal embedded directly into the customer’s Alibaba.com account
Buyers complete a fast, one-time digital application and receive approval within seconds. Once approved, they gain access to a revolving credit limit – with up to 90 days to pay – that appears as a standard payment option at checkout. As buyers pay down their balance, their credit replenishes automatically, giving them ongoing purchasing power for future orders without ever needing to reapply. No redirects. No third-party logins. No friction.
“Our relationship with Balance has been great. We love working with them on a daily basis, and that’s why I strongly recommend Balance.”
Financing built in, risk handled
Offering buyers financing typically means taking on credit risk, building underwriting capabilities, and managing collections, none of which is core to running a marketplace. Balance handles all of it.
Balance’s AI risk engine goes beyond traditional credit data, incorporating real-time transaction and bank data to deliver instant decisions and high approval rates, including for the small businesses that traditional financing systems typically overlook. Alibaba.com can offer its buyers dedicated purchasing power without carrying the risk or building the infrastructure themselves.
Strong adoption, bigger orders, and reactivated buyers
The program’s impact has been unmistakable. Adoption has been strong. Buyers are coming back to place more orders – and bigger orders. And perhaps most notably, dormant customers are returning and using Pay Later for Business to re-engage with the platform.
“The impact of the program has been really, really positive. Adoption has been really strong and we’re seeing buyers are coming back to place more orders and bigger orders. That’s exactly what we want to see. And more surprisingly, we’re actually seeing a lot of the dormant customers are coming back and start using Pay Later for Business. The entire program has been very successful.”
If you want to give your buyers embedded financing that drives bigger orders and deeper loyalty – without building financial infrastructure or taking on credit risk – Alibaba.com shows what’s possible.
See how Balance works.
