Square Lets Sellers in Canada Offer BNPL Through Afterpay

Square has launched its first integration with Afterpay in Canada, offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) functionality to sellers using Square’s eCommerce products.

“The integration will enable Square sellers in Canada to offer Afterpay’s BNPL experience to their customers, helping them attract new shoppers and drive incremental revenue,” Square said in a news release Thursday (Sept. 22).

The companies have integrated their services in the U.S. and Australia, where they say they’ve seen an increase in transaction sizes, with the average transaction size with Afterpay is three times greater than non-BNPL purchases.

In addition, the companies have seen a 180% increase in new consumers leveraging Afterpay through Square sellers between February and March of this year.

“From our earliest days, Square has focused on building flexible omnichannel commerce solutions to empower entrepreneurs and the launch of Afterpay in Canada — one of our largest international markets — is one more step in that direction,” said Alyssa Henry, head of Square. “The integration with Afterpay helps us further our priority of global expansion while bringing even more businesses of all sizes into the Square ecosystem.”

Read more: Affirm to Extend BNPL Option to Amazon Customers in Canada

Also Thursday, payment network Affirm announced that its BNPL option — already available to Amazon users in the U.S. — would soon be offered to Amazon Canada customers.

The company said that within the next month, eligible customers on Amazon.ca will be offered BNPL in English and French. When customers pick Affirm as a payment option, a free soft credit check is run and the payment options for that customer are determined.

See also: Leveraging BNPL to Beat the Cost-of-Living Crisis

Customers eligible for the BNPL option can then divide purchases of $50 or more into monthly payments and will be shown the number of remaining payments they have.

BNPL use has come in handy as inflation leaves consumers feeling strained, PYMNTS research has found.

Forty-six percent of customers who could not access traditional credit options turned to BNPL to make purchases they could not have otherwise paid for. Meanwhile, 47% of consumers said they would be interested in BNPL for costly, one-time retail purchases.