The Country Road Group will be offering shoppers ‘buy now, pay later’ online payment options after signing up to fintech start-up Afterpay’s platform.
Afterpay, which listed on the share market in May and allows shoppers to buy instantly and pay the item off later in instalments, will roll out its payments system across the Country Road Group’s brands, including Trenery, Witchery and Mimco.
Country Road went live with the platform on Tuesday and Afterpay says the other brands expect to have the feature on their websites by the end of the week.
Afterpay managing director Nick Molnar said Country Road partnership represented a milestone and would help lift the start-up’s profile.
“The brands have an excellent reputation in the market and symbolise great quality and style, appealing to a wide demographic for all ages and genders across both the fashion and lifestyle industries,” he said.
Topshop, Cotton On, Strandbags and Merrell are among Afterpay’s existing 1,400 retailers. MJ Bale, Seafolly and Sheridan are among the most recent brands to integrate the Afterpay system.
Afterpay doesn’t charge interest or up-front fees and allows customers to make fortnightly instalments over a maximum of 56 days. However, if they miss payments, they will incur late fees.
The system is designed to encourage shoppers to buy more now, knowing they can pay it off later.
Afterpay’s revenue comes primarily from retailers paying it transaction fees. It says it made more than $40 million in underlying sales in the first quarter of the 2017 financial year, after reporting a loss $3.7 million loss in the year to June 30.
Its competitors include ASX-listed Zipmoney and Openpay which plans to float on the share market next year.
Shares in Afterpay were up eight cents, or 3.17 per cent, at $2.60 at 1355 AEDT, more than two-and-half times its $1 issue price.
Online Source: Sky News Australia.
