Afterpay introduces Google Pay and Apple Pay for in-store payments

By Pavithra R

Afterpay, a leading “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) service provider, has announced that the company is offering BNPL payments for physical and online retail stores in the U.S. market to shoppers paying with Google Pay and Apple Pay.

Beginning in July 2020, selected retail stores in the U.S. will begin offering Afterpay. Under the agreement, customers can buy items in retail stores using the Afterpay app by tapping their phone at the POS terminal. Like Afterpay online, customers can pay for their in-store purchases in four installment payments, without the need to take out a traditional loan or pay upfront fees or interest.

Because shoppers are using Google Pay, which works with existing payment terminals, there is no technical integration effort associated with accepting Afterpay. Customers can also initiate a purchase by simply tapping the “card” icon in the Afterpay app, which activates the Afterpay card in the Apple Wallet.

Afterpay first introduced its in-store solution in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) in 2016. According to company data, at the end of 2019, its in-store offering represented approximately 24% of total ANZ underlying sales – with almost 40,000 storefronts offering the service.

Through this step, Afterpay is expecting to help retailers in attracting a growing segment of the population who prefer to pay without incurring traditional debt, interest or fees.

“As we enter the second half of the year and retail re-emerges across the world, it’s critical we help our partners drive business growth, both online and offline. As a proven solution for driving incremental sales and new customer growth, we are thrilled to introduce our new omni-channel solution to U.S retailers as they begin to open their doors and bring shoppers back to their physical stores,” said Nick Molnar, Afterpay’s co-founder and U.S. CEO.

Every Apple Pay purchase is authenticated with just a glance or a touch with Face ID or Touch ID, or a device’s passcode. For Google Pay, customer payment information is protected with multiple layers of security, including tokenization. The company has plans to roll out the service in Australia in the coming months.

Recently, Marqeta has selected Afterpay to help accelerate growth in the US market.

Founded in 2017, Afterpay has transformed the way people pay by allowing shoppers to receive products immediately and pay in four simple instalments over a short period of time.