Afterpay (ASX:APT), a digital platform that offers interest-free installment plans for online purchases, announced on Monday it has joined forces with Clearpay to bring flexible payments to Southern Europe. According to the duo, 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.
As previously reported, Afterpay was founded in 2015 and reported its platform has grown to include more than 14,000 Australian retailers and brands including Sephora, Estee Lauder, Lululemon, Myer, The Daily Edited, and Stylerunner. Since launching in the U.S., Afterpay has processed more than 25% of all online fashion/beauty transactions. Afterpay recently announced it launched its services in Australia and Canada.
Afterpay revealed more details about the expansion by stating:
“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.”
Nick Molnar, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Clearpay, further commented:
“In the last year, global ecommerce grew faster than it had in the last ten years. 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.”
Italian merchants will notably begin offering Clearpay later this month.