ZIP ZOOMS AS BOOM ROLLS ON
THE buy now, pay later boom is rolling on after Zip Co logged another massive boost to revenue and Splitit inked a deal with one of China’s largest payment solutions companies.
Strong revenue growth at Zip was driven by booming business from the firm’s US business Quadpay, which it bought last year. Zip recorded an 80 per cent jump in revenue growth to $114.4m for the March quarter while transaction volume climbed 114 per cent to $1.6bn, compared to the same time last year.
Zip co-founder Peter Gray, described the result as “another outstanding set of numbers”. The update was welcomed by the market, with Zip’s shares the best performer on the ASX 200, surging almost 17 per cent to $9.73. Rival buy now, pay later players also rallied with market leader Afterpay climbing 3.1 per cent to $124.98 per cent and Splitit jumping 8.3 per cent to 84.5c. Zip saw record transaction number growth, up 195 per cent for the quarter to 12.4 million on top of an 88 per cent increase in customer numbers to 6.4m. Bad debts were helped by Australian economic support, falling from 1.93 per cent to 1.78 per cent. Zip signed up big name retailers such as JB Hi Fi and Adore Beauty, helping to lift merchants on the platform to 45,300, up 81 per cent for the quarter.
Splitit on Tuesday announced it had inked a deal with Chinese payments giant UnionPay International.
The deal will integrate Splitit into Union Pay International and give card holders the option to accept and make purchases using Splitit’s interest-free instalment payment options.
The deal is set to roll out from June in what may see the buy now, pay later provider gain access to 180 countries and 55 million merchants, however Splitit stressed the materiality of the agreement was still unknown.