Financial services firm Square is to offer its UK sellers ‘buy now pay later’ (BNPL) capability across their platforms.
Sellers will be able to offer customers BNPL online through a Clearpay integration at the checkout, while any in-person Square checkouts will also support Clearpay options, including Square Point of Sale, Square for Retail and Square for Restaurants.
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The move makes the UK the only market in which all Square platforms offer BNPL solutions.
Clearpay, known as Afterpay outside the UK and EU, was acquired by Square in 2021 for approximately $29 billion. Square registered a 180% global increase in new customers using Afterpay through Square sellers between February and March, and US businesses that offered it as a BNPL service saw increases such as a 17% increase in clothing sales.
The integration means Customers can complete payments in four interest-free instalments over a six week period, while sellers receive the full amount up-front. Clearpay integration will also be available for developers within the Square Web Payments SDK, offering businesses the option to maintain Square and Clearpay payments easily.
Clearpay will also be available as a payment method for sellers who utilise Square’s Virtual Terminal dashboard, through which customers can be sent Pay Links via text message.
Square offers businesses hardware and software to facilitate card payments, with dedicated Square Readers and Stands, or even through a simple iOS or Android app. As its customer base is primarily made up of businesses that did not formerly have card payment capabilities, 96% of Square Sellers are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to market insight firm Enlyft.
BNPL payments accounted for almost £13 billion of UK e-commerce spending in 2021, and could exceed £16 billion in 2022, according to US fintech giant FIS. In the UK, BNPL is expected to account for 12% of UK e-commerce spending by 2025, and is currently the fastest growing online payment method.
Rich Bayer, UK country manager at Clearpay, identified “young and engaged shoppers who want BNPL as their preferred payment method” as a key market that the integration opens up to Square Sellers.
With the worsening cost of living crisis and rising inflation, SMBs are increasingly look for ways to offset costs for their customers, as even smaller purchases begin to be weighed up against the price tag of essential items.
“We’re thrilled to be integrating Clearpay both in-store and online in the UK,” stated Alyssa Henry, head of Square. "The integration across platforms furthers our goal to give sellers of all sizes omnichannel tools that help them to grow by meeting consumer shopping habits, whatever and wherever they are.
“Clearpay provides our ecosystem with a new tool beyond an alternative payment method; it enables an omnichannel commerce solution that can offer true value to our sellers.”
