PetSmart has joined the growing ranks of retailers offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) services through a new partnership with Afterpay. Afterpay’s flexible payment solution is now available for all PetSmart products as well as services like grooming, training and day camps, allowing customers to pay in four interest-free installments due every two weeks.
BNPL is quickly becoming a retail standard in the U.S., with Amazon, Apple, Westfield shopping centers, CVS, Macy’s and Target among the many merchants that have added the offering in the last few months alone. The use of BNPL services in the first half of 2021 grew 88% compared to 2019, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index, and Juniper Research projected that the total number of BNPL users will exceed 1.5 billion by 2026, compared to 340 million in 2021.
It’s not only retailers that are looking to get in on the BNPL action: Adobe has teamed up with PayPal to integrate payment services, including BNPL, into the Adobe Commerce application, allowing merchants to offer a variety of payment solutions directly from their digital storefronts instead of working with third-party providers.
For PetSmart, BNPL is just the latest service expansion in an ongoing effort to create more convenient shopping experiences for customers. Other recent additions have included curbside pickup and same-day delivery. “Afterpay empowers our customers with the financial freedom and flexibility to make purchases at PetSmart quickly and easily — and on their terms,” said Will Smith, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at PetSmart in a statement. “We’re excited to provide this innovative program to our customers, whether they’re shopping in-store or online.”
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To learn more about how to maximize the potential of BNPL to not only increase customer loyalty but also total spend, check out our special report, Making the Most of BNPL: How Education and Total Cost Transparency can Lead to Bigger Baskets.
