Afterpay announces cross border commerce for merchant partners

Afterpay, a ‘buy now, pay later’ payments service, has announced it is launching cross border commerce for merchant partners to open their e-commerce sites to consumers in Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

The company, which is known as Clearpay in the UK, plans to open its merchant partners’ e-commerce sites to US consumers next year.

The cross border commerce allows retailers to open their storefronts to consumers without having to pay currency conversion or set-up fees. Consumers will be able to view products in their own currency and will be offered the option to pay in four installments without fees, interest or revolving and extended debt.

Cross border shopping represents a 1 trillion dollar gross merchandise value opportunity, according to Afterpay.

Afterpay first released cross border shopping in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) in March 2019. It achieved a year-on-year sales growth of almost 576 percent. The number of ANZ merchant partners selling outside their home country has grown ten fold.

Nick Molnar, Afterpay's co-founder and CEO of North America, said in a statement: “Cross border trade allows retailers to open their storefronts to the world - delivering new customers, higher conversion and ultimately more merchant sales, without additional set-up costs or fees.

“We are particularly excited to offer cross border capabilities at a time when consumers are buying online more than ever and in advance of this busy holiday shopping season.”

Photo credit: Afterpay