Afterpay Expands to Major U.S. Retailers

Afterpay, a provider of “Buy Now, Pay Later” payments, is now making its service available to select app customers at some of the biggest merchants in the United States, including Amazon, CVS, Kroger, Target and Walgreens.

Through the Afterpay app, select customers can choose any of those retailers in the Afterpay Shop Directory and then pay with Afterpay. These customers enjoy all of the same benefits of using Afterpay, including the ability to pay over time without having to pay interest or finance charges. 

When select app customers use Afterpay to buy items from Amazon, CVS, Kroger, Target or Walgreens, the company uses a one-time card to facilitate the purchase. The payment details are automatically populated at checkout for a seamless checkout experience.

“Over the past year, we all relied on online shopping for the things we needed during the pandemic,” noted Zahir Khoja, general manager of Afterpay North America. “But, as we celebrate the physical reopening of stores, consumers still want the convenience and flexibility of buying with the click of a mouse as part of their ‘new normal.’ We are thrilled to continue to support our customers by allowing them to shop every day at their favorite brands with Afterpay for things they need and want in their lives.”

Most Afterpay customers start shopping on the Shop Directory in the Afterpay app. On a monthly basis, the company sends about 31 million leads on average to its merchant customers from its Shop Directory.

The service enables customers to receive products immediately and pay for their purchases over four installments, always interest-free. The service is completely free for those who pay on time, helping them spend responsibly without incurring interest, fees or extended debt.

As of March 2021, Melbourne, Australia-based Afterpay is offered by nearly 86,000 of the world’s retailers and has more than 17 million customers in North America alone. Afterpay is currently available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, where it’s known as Clearpay.

Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Cincinnati-based Kroger, which employs nearly half a million associates who serve 11 million-plus customers daily through a digital shopping experience and almost 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names, is No. 3; Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens, which operates more than 9,000 drug stores, is No. 5; and Minneapolis-based Target, which operates more than 1,900 locations, is No. 6; and Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health, which operates almost 10,000 locations nationwide, is No. 7.