Amazon, the country’s largest retailer, recently entered into a partnership with Affirm, which will offer payment options later. And Square, the payments company run by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, agreed to acquire Afterpay, another provider, for $ 29 billion in early August, a deal that will open up installment payments to millions of small businesses that process sales through the Square app.
Visa, another payment processor, said it has partnered with several late payment companies to help them grow and offer new products, including virtual cards. Visa also provides Commerce Bank with technology that provides certain Visa cardholders with the option of paying in installments. Visa said it plans to expand the program to more issuing banks next year.
Late payment options still only account for 1.7% of online sales in the United States, a segment dominated by credit cards, which accounted for 30.4% last year, according to Worldpay, a processing company. payments.
But the pay-later share is expected to nearly triple to 4.8 percent of U.S. sales – or $ 79.7 billion – by 2024, Worldpay estimates. They are already more established abroad: late payment accounts for 23% of online transactions in Sweden and almost 20% in Germany, and the method is also popular in Australia, Finland, New Zealand and Norway.
Mastercard’s program will provide consumer protections typically associated with credit cards, including zero liability fraud protection and the ability to dispute unrecognized charges, the company said.
“Mastercard is a trusted brand, just like its banking partners, and that means a lot to consumers,†said Ms. Schmeltzer. “That being said, brands like Klarna and Afterpay have a large and growing consumer base – and apparently very loyal. It will be a very interesting race to watch.
