The acquisition by Square looms, and Afterpay’s most recent results show increased momentum in buy now, pay later (BNPL) adoption – reflected, too, in Klarna’s earnings.
In terms of headline numbers, Afterpay’s revenues were up 78 percent to A$924.7 million. Active customers grew by 63 percent to 16.2 million; drilling down a bit, customers in North America surged 88 percent to 10.5 million and were up 8 percent in Australia/New Zealand. Clearpay active customers gained 104 percent to 2.1 million (Clearpay allows payments to be made over four installments every two weeks, without interest).
Total active merchants were up 77 percent year on year to 98.2 million. The company noted in its presentation materials that 90 percent of U.S. orders were made by repeat customers.
And in a nod toward the appeal of omnichannel commerce, Afterpay said that its U.S. omnichannel customers were shopping 160 percent more frequently than online-only customers in the fiscal year 2021. In-store sales in Australia/New Zealand were up 48 percent in the period, while online sales gained 43 percent, management stated.
Anthony Elsen, co-CEO of the firm, said in the conference call that “our pipeline going into the holiday period is extremely strong in North America, with over $15 billion of addressable GMV.”
Elsen noted on the call that BNPL represents 2 percent of global online sales – “the opportunity is quite immense,” he said. Millennials and Generation Z represent key demographics. Afterpay management noted on the call, too, that the transaction with Square is synergistic, as the latter’s SMB base is complementary to the former’s enterprise retail partnerships.
Nick Molnar, co-CEO, said on the call that “from a geographic perspective, Australia is Square’s biggest international region outside the U.S., whereas for Afterpay, the U.S. is our largest regional opportunity outside of Australia.”
Read more: What The Square-Afterpay Deal Means For BNPL, FinTech, BigTech And Banks
Momentum Continues For Klarna, Too
Separately, and as detailed in this space earlier in the week, Sweden’s Klarna reported that gross merchandise volume (GMV) had grown by over $8 billion in the past year.
App installations were up 115 percent and cumulative app downloads stood at 36 million. In the U.S., the cumulative app downloads stand at 13 million, representing a CAGR of 236 percent as measured from 2018 to 2021. There are 90 million active users, the company said in its materials, conducting two million transactions daily.
Also see: Klarna’s GMV Grows By $8B Amid Rising App Installations
Klarna, whose own IPO may come by next year, said in its earnings presentation that the U.S. volumes were up 334 percent, with U.S. retail eCommerce CAGR clocking in at 23 percent.
As reported by PYMNTS, millennial and Gen Z shoppers are embracing BNPL. The data found that 15 percent of millennials and 5.7 percent of Gen Z consumers used BNPL in-store compared to only 3 percent of older generations.
Learn more: How BNPL Solutions Are Answering Gen Z’s And Millennials’ Financial Needs
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More