Apple relaunches its fractional payment offer with Alma

The French FinTech Alma has just established itself as Apple's new partner for the financing of Apple products. This partnership concerns free financing solutions for French customers. A way for Apple to make its terminals more accessible in a tense economic context.

FACTS

• Apple had been offering financing options to its French customers for several years, permanently for physical shops, but only via blitzes for online purchases.

• From now on, its French customers will have several split payment options by default, both online and in shop:

  • Payment in 4 instalments, between €40 and €4,000 of purchases

  • Payment in 12 instalments, between €100 and €8,000 of purchases

  • Payment in 24 instalments, between €250 and €8,000 of purchases

• These offers have been developed by Alma, which bears the cost of the risk, while Apple bears the cost of the credit, which in fact appears to be free for the consumer.

CHALLENGES

• A challenge of accessibility of its terminals in a difficult economic context: between January and September 2021, Apple would have sold 2.4 million iPhones in France, but the brand is forced to offer financing options to maintain its market share. This is a global move for Apple, which has also just launched its split payment option in the US. In France, where the market is expecting changes in European credit regulations, Apple has chosen to work with a partner.

• For Alma, a change of scale: Alma becomes Apple's new partner, replacing Sofinco, which was Apple's financial partner until now. This is a very significant market for this young financing player, which was born in 2018, but has been growing ever since.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Despite the positioning of BNPL giants such as Klarna in France, Alma has gradually established itself as a reference on the French market.

• La Banque Postale adopted Alma's fractional payment technology in May 2021, before preferring Pledg's solution.