Affirm Extends Business With WooCommerce
The Affirm system enables consumers to pay by installment and manage their spending better.
WooCommerce, a major platform for e-commerce merchants, has expanded its partnership with the Affirm payment system into Canada.
The San Francisco-based, publicly held Affirm, which enables consumers to pay by installment without any late fees or interest, is already available to U.S. merchants on WooCommerce.
WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce solution, built on WordPress, meaning it's designed to be easy for merchants to customize and modify their e-commerce sites. WooCommerce says it has 3.7 million merchants on its platform.
In Canada, WooCommerce businesses can offer Affirm at checkout via PayBright, another payment system bought by Affirm in January 2021, which provides the same value proposition to consumers as Affirm.
Through Affirm, approved customers don't have to pay their bills up front.
They can split their purchase into four interest-free biweekly payments, or select from monthly payment terms with interest as low as 0 percent APR. Affirm charges simple interest, which does not compound and is considered an alternative to credit cards. Affirm also says it has no hidden fees and that its system builds sales and average order size at retailers by making it easier for consumers to manage their spending. Thousands of retailers — including Amazon, Walmart, Adidas, Peloton, Audi, Expedia and Neiman Marcus — have partnered with Affirm, and in Canada specifically Affirm says it has more than 10,000 merchants, including Apple, Hudson's Bay, Samsung and Peloton.
“We're excited to be expanding our partnership by allowing even more merchants the opportunity to provide flexible pay-over-time solutions to their customers,” Aleksandra Bettin, vice president of business development at WooCommerce, said in a statement.
Added Wayne Pommen, senior vice president of Canada at Affirm: “As a global partnership, WooCommerce merchants will be able to offer the ability to pay over time with Affirm in Canada through PayBright, while also positioning Affirm and WooCommerce to support merchants in additional geographies in the future.”
At Gardyn, a company that provides consumers with kits to grow environmentally friendly butterhead lettuce, thyme, cherry tomatoes and jalapeños and other foods at home, "We believe that eating healthy and delicious food should be easy, affordable and better for the planet,” Laurie Caldwell, director of e-commerce, said in a statement. “By offering Affirm through WooCommerce's platform, we've been able to further expand access to sustainable food by providing consumers the ability to purchase and grow top-quality produce with a payment option that puts their interests first."