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Jun 24, 2024

With shoppers spending money on rising towards the start of the year and the popularity of online buying continues to rise across all age groups companies are confronted with greater potential and more competition for the dollars of consumers. This means that they must find new ways to cater to the needs of their customers as well as provide them with more options to purchase from the company or site you've created. One great way to begin is with the checkout processlooking for ways to make this a simpler crucial last step in the sales and offer choices for payment options to customers, increasing their experience.

One of the trends that have been gaining popularity quickly in online purchases can be seen in one that has gained traction is the "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) alternative during checkout. BNPL is a different option that allows buyers to spread the price of their purchase in reasonable installments, which are split into time, in some cases, in just a few weeks while in others, it's spread across several months.

Pay later, buy now is increasing

A lot of consumers are making use of pay-over-time payment options in the event that they become accessible. The year 2023 saw online retailers saw a significant rise in the amount of transactions which were completed using BNPL which saw the volume increasing by 42.5 percentage over the course of a year. In the end, BNPL added around $16.6 billion on merchant books in the last 2 months in 2023, and the pattern Adobe expects to continue until 2024.

Around 93.3 million consumers are expected to use BNPL by 2024, according to EMarketer in addition to American Banker reported that the BNPL market in the US may reach as high up to $8.3 billion in 2028. BNPL is also being used in increasing numbers by retail giants like Amazon.com -- which will also accelerate the expansion of the market, and also make it easier for those who shop on the internet.

This is the reason why BNPL an option that merchants ought to consider when they are competing in a highly competitive online market.

Buy now, to be repaid later A few points worth taking into consideration

Integrating BNPL alternatives for checkouts earlier rather than later gives retailers more opportunities to attract new customers as well as establish an ongoing connection.

If a store doesn't offer the BNPL option during checkout, this might be the perfect moment to include one in the shopping cart. If they offer it, putting the BNPL option prominently displayed on their website, particularly when you check out or announcing the availability of the option through advertising will help them differentiate themselves from their competitors and increase the experience of customers.

The more noticeable the BNPL option is displayed on an online store's site as well as the quicker they promote the feature via messages and via social media and the greater chance that people will be curious about the option and helping retailers drive customers to their site to complete the transaction.

BNPL will allow merchants to increase their appeal to customers who are looking to buy today, but also want to control the flow of cash, with no credit. By allowing you to divide the cost of a product into, such as, for example the four installments of interest-free payment every two weeks, customers can purchase the items they desire without time delay. Certain BNPL service providers, including Affirm and Affirm, offer extended terms of a few months up to three years on large carts as well as expensive items.

Although adding another option for payment to the back end of an online store could be an overwhelming task for smaller-scale businesses that are already working on their time There are solutions available that are quick and simple application that can streamline the entire process for retailers. For this it is common make use of already-built ecommerce integrations, like Affirm Payments, which is the payment extension called Affirm Payments. It allows for simple integration of the BNPL option to their current checkout process.

Benefits of offering a buy-now and pay later for your Woo store

What are the advantages that a BNPL integration provide? For one, using an integration can speed up the purchasing process for the ever-growing amount of consumers who like to pay in the course of time. Making sure that the customers have access to your site and ready to pay is essential, especially for youngsters who are growing into online retail. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation reports that over half (46%) of Gen Z respondents consider a smooth checkout process essential for their shopping experience.

One of the most important aspects to consider when you are implementing the integration is the user experience to the purchaser. It is essential that the buyer has the ability to see their payment options and complete the approval process without needing to go to a different website. With a pre-built integration merchants can make the procedure as simple and simple as they can for the consumer, to ensure that their option isn't blocked from making a sale.

An easy checkout process can assist in reducing abandonment rates of shopping carts. Recent Baymard Institute metastudy of 49 research papers found that cart abandonment rate is still about 70 percent. However, it isn't significantly different in a decade. Most likely to cause abandonment was a checkout process that was lengthy or complicated (22 percent of times) as well as the website did not offer adequate alternatives for paying (responsible for 13% of cart abandonments). Thanks to the tightly integrated BNPL platform, businesses can address both these customer concerns simultaneously.

What is the best way to select a purchase today, pay later service

Selecting the BNPL supplier that matches your business needs and customer needs is an essential element to determine the best match. Affirm, for instance, Affirm provides custom payment services to businesses. It can offer both the short and long-term, as well as zero percent APR choices. With payment plans that are line with consumer needs and costs, merchants can increase the price of consumers and possibly gain a customer advantage over their competitors.

One of the most unique options provided by Affirm is their Adaptive Checkout technology that provides you with an efficient method to make payments to your clients based on the price of the product and the overall cost of the cart. Personalization is the theme of the online game Affirm customizes the time duration and APR for each purchase -- delivering several choices for payment on time to the customer, all in one frictionless user experience.

What can you do to make sure that the customers you already have in the past and who are likely to purchase from you know about the BNPL option prior to making a purchase? Based on your market intend to target, you might want to promote it on the social media channels. Retail Dive states that 85percent of the customer's purchases are influenced by social media. Therefore, advertising the availability of BNPL through these platforms could prove beneficial. If you're looking to connect with Gen Z be aware that 45% of those polled have listed TikTok and Instagram as their top two platforms that influence their buying choices.

As summer is typically an unproductive time for business and businesses, it's a great time for merchants to focus on getting BNPL into their website in advance of when that Back to School rush signals that the maddening days leading up to Christmas. They have the opportunity to consider the vendors they work with, resolve any problems in technology, and step up marketing efforts in order to introduce BNPL as a completely innovative payment option that's accessible at check-out.

Offering an BNPL option at check out and making it known on social media might change the rules for businesses looking to get more customers online and beat out the competition.

Are you prepared to add the flexibility of payment options for your online payment process? Apply for Affirm to get started and then use the Affirm Payments extension to offer time-based payment options through your checkout process.

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Payment options offered through Affirm will be subject to eligibility checks They may not be available across all regions, and they are made available through these lenders: affirm.com/lenders.

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