Square and Afterpay Expand Offerings for Merchants’ In-store POS
After only three months in the Square ecosystem, Afterpay is being unlocked for sellers using any Square point of sale software to offer Afterpay across online and in-person commerce.
Having already found success in attracting new shoppers and driving revenue for sellers, Square aims to further give all sellers omnichannel tools that unlock new growth opportunities through its Afterpay expansion. According to the company, average transaction size is up by three times with Afterpay in the first quarter together across both the U.S. and Australia.
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“Consumers are demanding an omnichannel experience from merchants, and it isn’t just about selling across multiple channels,” said Nick Molnar, Afterpay lead at Square. “It’s about meeting their shopping needs, whatever and wherever they are. Afterpay adds an omnichannel tool to Square’s ecosystem that sellers haven’t typically had access to, allowing them to shop now and pay over time.”
The company reported a global increase of 180 percent in new customers leveraging Afterpay through Square sellers between February and March 2022. Beauty and personal care businesses, in particular, saw significant growth in online sales with a 26 percent increase reported in Australia and a 16 percent increase reported in the U.S.
Specifically in the U.S., retailers that offered Afterpay as a payment option online are seeing a lift in overall online sales with men’s and women’s clothing stores experiencing 17 percent growth, specialized apparel and accessories seeing 15 percent growth and jewelry and watch shops experiencing 10 percent growth. Pet stores in the U.S. saw 13 percent growth.
“Afterpay’s primary shoppers are young, Gen Z and prefer to use Afterpay wherever they shop,” Molnar said. “They become repeat customers, have lower return rates and a higher AOV. By offering Afterpay to Square sellers, these sellers can capture the next generation of customers on a larger scale. We’ve seen significant growth already through this integration with an average of 266 percent of consumers using Afterpay at any seller using Square Online more than once.”
When asked what this broad integration means for the greater buy now, pay later landscape, Molnar told WWD that as BNPL proves itself as the preferred way to pay by the younger generation as this generation’s spending power grows, he sees the use of BNPL becoming the primary form of payment.
“The permanency of BNPL is also apparent by the growing number of retailers adopting the service, so there is a need to continue to expand that offering for both consumers and retailers alike,” Molnar said. “For Afterpay, we now have more than 122,000 retailer partners globally, and our retailers are taking us into new verticals.”
Further, he said, Afterpay’s integration with Square is “helping drive a more meaningful omnichannel experience. The rapid acceleration of BNPL among shoppers makes Afterpay an important new way for Square sellers to capture next-generation consumers as consumers continue to habituate and prefer BNPL.”
FOR MORE WWD BUSINESS NEWS:
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Afterpay’s Spring-Summer Global Trend Report Reveals the Latest Consumer Behaviors
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