Affirm CEO says more retailers want buy now, pay later options as holidays approach
Affirm Holdings Inc. is seeing increased interest from retailers to subsidize US consumer borrowing ahead of the holiday season, as more shoppers turn to buy now, pay later providers to finance their spending.
Chief Executive Officer Max Levchin said more retailers have an appetite for eating interest-linked costs as a way of offering zero-interest loans to entice shoppers. The use of buy now, pay later options increased 16% to $67 billion through last year’s Cyber Monday spending spree, according to Adobe Analytics.
“I see a lot of that coming, which will be amazing for consumers,” Levchin said Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “They’re buying, and they’re paying their bills with Affirm – that seems to be going well.”
Levchin said last month that Affirm is outpacing the growth of rivals in the competitive buy now, pay later space, including Klarna Bank AB, which is preparing for an initial public offering. He reiterated Thursday that the firm is seeing “great demand.”
Affirm shares recently got a boost from a deal with Apple Inc. to give Apple Pay users access to its pay-over-time offerings, which went live this week.
“Partnering well is what we’ve become known for,” Levchin said.
