Afterpay launches mobile app for modern layby

Internet Retailing

18th May 2017

Afterpay this week launched a mobile app aimed at making it easier for customers to use the buy now, pay later payment method in store.

The app for iPhone and iPad can be used in over 800 store locations throughout Australia. To pay, customers present a barcode generated by the app, which is scanned at checkout.

Customers could previously use the mobile site to check out with the buy now, pay later payment method in-store, but the mobile app makes the process more seamless and introduces new features, including push notifications and exclusive offers.

In addition, customers are able to sign into the app with Touch ID and scan their payment card to add it as a payment method.

The mobile app has already reached number one on the App Store in Australia, just two days after first launching. This reflects the level of popularity buy now, pay later payment methods have with consumers.

Afterpay has reported that it now processes around 15 per cent of total online fashion retail and three per cent of total online retail in Australia, while zipPay has recently announced strategic partnerships with major e-commerce platform Shopify and payments gateway eWAY.

Both companies claim their payment methods help retailers increase average basket size and conversion rates.

Nick Molnar, managing director of Afterpay, said the mobile app will help stores contend with changing consumer behaviour in the rapidly evolving retail space.

“Today, retailers have to contend with incredible on-demand services specifically targeting millennials and now more than ever, they need to enhance the customer experience.

“The way people shop in Australia is changing and innovation is allowing customers to choose the way they want to pay.

“Afterpay gives customers time, rather than finance to pay with their own money for the things they like while also providing an essential budgeting tool,” he said.

Approximately 70 per cent of the company’s 650,000 active users are millennials.

An app for Android devices is said to be coming soon.