Affirm to launch its Super-App

The American FinTech specialising in credit and BNPL Affirm has just revealed its SuperApp, presented as an all-in-one solution for managing purchases and finances. Its offer is based on an increasingly popular trend that is attracting players outside the financial sector alone.

FACTS

• Affirm's new Super-App is presented as a tool for simplified access to various services from a single space. These services concern payment facilities, financial management, loyalty and the purchase itself.

• Indeed, among the functionalities offered by the new Affirm application, it will now be necessary to count on services of :

  • monitoring of the Affirm account (payment capacity, savings made, pending split payments, etc.)

  • special offers from Affirm's merchant partners,

  • product proposals based on their purchasing habits,

  • single-use virtual card,

  • discounts and cashback,

  • savings (with Affirm Savings),

  • ...

• The service is officially launched after a beta test phase. Affirm has seen an increase in consumer engagement with its Super-App during this test phase.

• Affirm customers can now take advantage of the new features by simply updating the Affirm app from the App Store or Google Play Store.

CHALLENGES

• Gaining market share: In addition to its super-app, Affirm has also launched a browser extension that allows consumers to pay for any online purchase with its BNPL solution via Google Chrome. This also applies to merchants who are not Affirm partners. This initiative sounds like a direct response from the American player to the Swedish company Klarna, which recently launched a similar service.

• A confirmation of ambition: This launch of a shopping-oriented super-app represents a new foray by Affirm into the market. Last September, Affirm signed a partnership with Amazon to allow the web giant's customers to access its services directly on the e-commerce platform.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The battle of the super-apps has only just begun. Affirm is starting from BNPL and credit to deploy other financial and shopping services; PayPal, as a historical payment player, or the Russian bank Tinkoff, are opting for the same diversification path.

• But this trend is not unique to the financial market. Other groups are positioning themselves by emphasising their ability to expand beyond their core business. This is the case of GoTo (part of the mobility sector) or the telecom operator Vodacom. The retail giant Walmart is also said to be going down this road.