Afterpay (ASX:APT), the leader in "Buy Now, Pay Later" payments, today launched its European service, Clearpay, to merchants across Spain and France. Italian merchants will begin offering Clearpay later this month.
Clearpay enters Southern Europe with some of the best fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands and retailers in the market. Globally, more than 75,000 retailers offer Clearpay, or Afterpay as it is known outside of Europe, to its more than 13 million active customers across the world. In the first half of fiscal 2021, Afterpay delivered $10.1 billion in global underlying sales on a constant currency basis.
Today, Southern Europe has an addressable ecommerce market which exceeds €150b1 across Spain, Italy and France. With large millennial populations, a strong fashion and beauty market, and significant consumer debit card usage, there is a strong opportunity to offer "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) services. By offering Clearpay in Europe, the company is able to support existing global retail partners who would like to offer the service to their customers across Europe.
"In the last year, global ecommerce grew faster than it had in the last ten years," said Nick Molnar, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Clearpay. "By introducing Clearpay, we are giving Europeans a better way to access the things they want and need in their lives via a flexible payment service that allows shoppers to spend their own money and pay over time - instead of turning to expensive loans and credit cards which come with interest, fees and revolving debt."
With Clearpay, shoppers have the ability to receive products immediately and pay in four installments over a short period of time. The service is completely free for European customers2 - helping consumers spend money responsibly, without incurring interest or revolving and extended debt. More than 90 percent of Clearpay global purchases are made with debit cards.
Clearpay enters the Southern Europe market after its recent acquisition of Pagantis, a Spanish-based payment company. Clearpay received regulatory approval from the Bank of Spain to offer its products across Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Germany.