The move, which launches Zilch into another fast growing vertical of personalised online gifting follows a series of high-profile business developments, news the fintech reached unicorn status at a $2bn valuation and reaching more than 1 million customers in record time within the BNPL industry. Gift cards are the latest example of how Zilch’s customer-centric approach has driven its exponential growth.

Gift Cards by Zilch brings its popular over-the-top digital card offering directly into a fast-growing retail vertical with unmet customer demand for BNPL. Zilch currently has 1.4 million customers with digital cards that will now be able to shop for multi use digital gift cards from the platform. This comes in addition to the huge market opportunity for Zilch in BNPL, as global gift card sales are expected to grow nearly 8% annually, projected to reach $1.4tn by 2026. Entry into gift cards will be another proof of concept for launch in new markets with full rollout of Zilch in the US, the world’s largest retail market, early next year.

Listening to customers first, Gift Cards by Zilch builds on the unique value proposition of its payment solutions to provide customers with another way to spread costs over time responsibly. Amid a resurgent pandemic the launch of Gift Cards by Zilch is more than a simple BNPL service add-on and is designed to give customers a personalised and convenient experience at a time it is most needed. The digital gift cards can be bought, sent and spent entirely online, added to Apple Wallet and shared with personal videos and messages.

Philip Belamant, Zilch founder and CEO said: “Zilch has had a phenomenal year of growth, customer acquisition, new products and business expansion. Zilch is offering a responsible and affordable form of consumer credit and our total focus on building a best-in-class customer experience will continue to drive exponential growth when we listen to our customers as we have with Gift Cards by Zilch. Our customers asked and we’re delighted to share a whole new gift card marketplace with them today.”

He added: “The pandemic truly accelerated ecommerce, one reason for the popularity of Zilch’s digital card offering which our gift cards will compliment, but also made 2021 a difficult year for many. Wishing all of our customers happy holidays and a better new year, I hope Gift Cards by Zilch is able to help them share a bit of joy in gifting to friends and family.”