Afterpay and Westfield Celebrate the Return of Retail
Top New Brands Offer Afterpay
Popular retailers Aldo, Lush Cosmetics, The Children’s Place and The Container Store now offer flexible spending to shoppers
SAN FRANCISCO, July 8, 2021 – Afterpay (ASX:APT), the leader in “Buy Now, Pay Later” payments, and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), owner of Westfield shopping centers in the U.S., today announced an integrated, multi-year national partnership to support retailers by offering consumers a more flexible way to pay for their purchases as they return to shopping in stores.
Through this partnership, the companies will jointly invest in new customer experiences, retail innovation, events, marketing and on-premise advertising at Westfield shopping centers - helping merchants and their customers celebrate the re-opening of in-person retail. The joint activity will extend to Westfield centers in the U.S., with plans to take the partnership global in the coming months.
Despite the acceleration of e-commerce during the pandemic, a recent survey conducted by Westfield found that nearly half of consumers are excited to shop in-person again — with 63% of consumers calling in-person shopping a “special treat.” Consumers are eager to try on clothes, browse the aisles and shelves, and use the physical shopping experience to see and feel the quality of items. The immediacy of in-person shopping also has an impact - with 73% of shoppers stating that the ability to go home with their purchases right away is a big factor in their decision to return to malls.
New In-Store Retailers Offering Afterpay
A number of new brands with a Westfield location across the country have recently begun to accept Afterpay, including Lush Cosmetics, Aldo, The Children’s Place and The Container Store. Afterpay is one of the only payments companies to successfully take its online business to physical retail - driving adoption of both contactless and flexible payments in stores. Nearly 4.5 million customers have set up the Afterpay Card to shop in person since its solution went live in Fall 2020.
“Afterpay is the ideal BNPL partner for us because we share a commitment to providing seamless and effective solutions to retailers that, in-turn, provide increased choice and flexibility for consumers,” said Colin Shaughnessy, Executive Vice President, U.S. Leasing, URW. “We look forward to working together to elevate the in-store shopping and media experience across our portfolio in the U.S.”
"Afterpay is an ideal solution for this new era of commerce because our contactless payment solution is secure and clean, while also allowing shoppers to spend responsibly and avoid revolving debt and interest.” said Zahir Khoja, General Manager of Afterpay North America. “We are thrilled to partner with Westfield, as shoppers and retailers alike celebrate the reopening of stores.”