Afterpay simplifies its in-store solution as BNPL picks up the pace


Afterpay is taking its service into any physical retailer across Australia with the launch of its in-store payment service.

Utilising the payment structure of Google Pay and Apple Pay, customers can now use the Afterpay app to pay for goods in-store on their phone, and subsequently pay the goods off over four payment installments.

Prior to this, merchants would have had to adopt Afterpay’s in-store barcode solution to offer the ability for customers to use their Afterpay account when buying. The new service will cut down on integration and installment costs for retailers, as well as allowing the buy now pay later firm to reach new customers, said co-founder Nick Molnar.

“The new Afterpay virtual card, which will sit in a customers digital wallet, is an evolution of our offering,” Molnar said.

“There is enormous opportunity to reach a new customer, who out of habit or preference, opts to shop in-store, to easily and seamlessly utilise Afterpay at the point of checkout.”

The move is part of a wider push by the buy now pay later industry into physical shopping, with rivals Openpay and Klarna also offering in-store shopping solutions.

And with more customers having relied on online shopping during the past year, buy now pay layer operators were given a shot in the arm, fueled by the looming financial pressures placed on many Australians as work died up and payslips were impacted, according to GlobalData.

In 2020, BNPL grew to a 5.5 per cent share of e-commerce spend, being particularly preferred among millennial customers who use the services in order to more easily budget for purchases.

And over a third of Australians are trying buy now pay later services, according to Openpay, with a fifth believing it will take between one and two years to return to normal spending habits.

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