UK buyers of Westfield shopping centers get BNPL option

Customers at more than a dozen stores in London’s Westfield shopping centers and Stratford City can now use a buy it now, pay later (BNPL) option when shopping, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday (April 6).

Clearpay Finance Solutions, a payment processing provider based in Manchester, England, has partnered with shopping center owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE. The report adds that the French commercial real estate company is continuing BNPL’s expansion into physical stores globally.

Clearpay – which is known as Afterpay outside of Europe – is working with Westfield to give shoppers more in-store payment options as the retail sector recovers from the pandemic, co – founder and co-CEO Antoine Eisen told the media.

“We are fully committed to the UK market and looking to grow the team,” he said.

Clearpay said it has 2.5 million customers in the country, and Eisen said BNPL could soon account for 10% of e-commerce spending, the report notes. Spending networks such as Klarna and Affirm continue to grow as younger customers prefer to spread the cost of purchases without using credit cards.

Eisen said he welcomed the regulations and said the process had been engaging and learning. At the recent Innovate Finance Global Summit in London, Eisen said discussions in the UK are similar to conversations in Australia.

As many as 20% of Australians use BNPL. The payment plan is different from credit cards, and Eisen said it generally covers smaller purchases and faster refunds.

“We recognize that millennials and Gen Z don’t want to sit in a world of revolving debt,” he added.

Last month, Clearpay and cross-border payment platform Thunes also formed a BNPL partnership.

See also: Cross-border payment platform Thunes partners with Clearpay on BNPL

The partnership enables Thunes to offer Clearpay’s BNPL product to its network of gateways, merchants and marketplace partners, the company said.