If we learned anything about Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) in 2021, it’s that consumers have demonstrated a strong preference for an installment billing option when they are shopping. Merchants in every vertical category rushed to offer a BNPL option, with little data to indicate if their selected solution was the best fit with their existing customer base, or with the new customers they wished to attract. As we head into 2022, merchants now have actionable data to begin to optimize their BNPL programs. Payments orchestration leader ACI Worldwide announced a major step in helping their merchants do that with the launch of PayAfter, an innovative platform that delivers seamless access to over 70 BNPL providers through a single API.
Many merchants have found that the lending guidelines of a single BNPL provider don’t meet the needs of their diverse customer base, and that a second or sometimes multiple providers are needed to address a broad range of financial needs. The challenge for the merchant is that adding flexibility in offering multiple providers also adds friction to the checkout process, since each BNPL provider has their own application and unique UX. ACI’s PayAfter platform standardizes that process, and enables merchants to cascade a customer through a path of BNPL providers based on defined criteria, using a single application, and maintaining a consistent UX.
“With ACI PayAfter, merchants and PSPs can provide their customers with a more inclusive experience and a wider choice of BNPL options that suit their needs, leading to fewer abandoned carts,” said Andrew Quartermaine, vice president, ACI Worldwide. “The BNPL market locks out approximately 40 to 50 percent of potential consumers, including the younger generations who aren’t interested in owning credit cards and the unbanked and underbanked population, many of whom are credit-worthy customers.”
ACI PayAfter provides merchants and PSPs with the flexibility to select the BNPL and financing options that are most relevant for their customers, and will be available to users of ACI’s Secure eCommerce and Omni-Commerce platforms.
Overview by Don Apgar, Director, Merchant Services Advisory Practice at Mercator Advisory Group
