By Amelia Isaacs on Tuesday 23 August 2022
After launching in the US and Australia, Square is bringing BNPL to the UK across all platforms.
A year on from its acquisition of Clearpay, Square is launching its first integration: ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL).
In a huge move for the company, the UK will be the first market to launch BNPL across all platforms, both online and in stores, at the same time, and it can be integrated by Square’s developers and partners.
Customers making payments through Square will now be able to pay in four interest free instalments over a six-week period while merchants still get paid in full, upfront.
“Enabling our sellers to accept any payment method is critical to ensuring they never miss a sale,” head of Square Alyssa Henry said.
“We know from speaking to our sellers that the consumer demand for Buy Now, Pay Later solutions has supercharged since the pandemic and we’re excited to enable our sellers to accept this payment method with Square.”
BNPL is the UK’s fastest growing online payment method, currently accounting for £13bn of UK e-commerce spending last year, projected to double in value by 2025.
Globally, BNPL is predicted to generate $680bn in transaction volume worldwide in 2025.
Square has already seen success with launches of BNPL in other markets since integrating in the US and Australia.
“Around the world, businesses are facing a number of obstacles and it’s essential that we equip our sellers with the best possible set of tools to help their business thrive,” Henry added.
The average transaction size of BNPL purchases with Afterpay (Clearpay’s name outside of the UK and Europe) is now three times greater in both the US and Australia than those made without.
The company also saw a massive 180 per cent increase in new customers using Afterpay through Square sellers between February and March 2022.
For online purchasing, Clearpay will now be embedded as a payment option within Square’s online checkout system, and in person sellers will be able to accept Clearpay at the checkout stage.
21 March 2023
Daniel Lanyon