Amazon simplifies access to split payments by linking Affirm to Amazon Pay

While their partnership was announced for 2021, e-commerce giant Amazon and credit specialist FinTech Affirm are today announcing the completion of their tie-up. Affirm's Adaptive Checkout solution is now linked to Amazon Pay, giving the e-retailer's merchant customers access to the payment facilities offered by Affirm. Amazon further confirms its impact on the entire e-commerce market by simplifying access to fractional payments, via its own wallet.

FACTS

• In concrete terms, retailers offering Amazon Pay to their own customers now benefit seamlessly from Affirm's Adaptive Checkout solution, as an additional payment option available to their end-customers.

• Customers will be able to click on the Amazon Pay button on a retailer's website when making a purchase. They can then select Affirm as their payment method and go through a fast, real-time approval process at no extra cost.

• Once their request has been approved, customers will be able to use Affirm to pay, via Amazon Pay, for future purchases over $50 in instalments.

• American merchants Casper, USA Berkey Filters and UltraSabers, among others, have already integrated Affirm's Adaptive Checkout into Amazon Pay. They have recorded average shopping baskets 60% higher than orders placed via other payment methods.

CHALLENGES

• Make your mark on the entire e-commerce market and indirectly capture new transactions: At a time when payment represents a key stage in the validation of online purchases, Amazon is keen to offer Internet users a new, more flexible option. The integration of Affirm's solution with Amazon Pay should also be an advantage for online merchants offering Amazon Pay, helping them to turn more shopping baskets into actual orders. Above all, the e-retailer makes its solution indispensable, whereas merchants could contract directly with Affirm. Amazon brings the simplification of its wallet path, as well as its brand, to convince Affirm to integrate its payment solution with its own.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• At the time when the partnership between Amazon and Affirm was announced, two major global players in BNPL were beginning their transition to e-commerce: Klarna and Afterpay. Affirm could count on its partnership with Amazon to establish itself as the new benchmark for international BNPL. 

• Klarna, on the other hand, has been beset by difficulties, but is banking on its status as an e-tailer to transform its business model. It remains to be said, however, that major new competitors have since positioned themselves on the American BNPL market, such as Apple.