Amazon introduces BNPL payments to its B2B business, and Walmart follows suit

It is learned that on November 2, Amazon Business announced that it would begin to launch the Affirm buy now, pay later service for eligible sole proprietorships . This is the first buy now, pay later option introduced by Amazon's B2B business. At the same time, Walmart also announced the launch of a buy now, pay later service provided by Klarna on its Canadian website and application.

Amazon will reportedly offer a buy now, pay later payment option to all eligible sole proprietorship customers before Black Friday. The partnership marks the debut of Affirm’s B2B installment payment option for sole proprietors.

After customers select "Affirm" during Amazon Business checkout and enter some information, small business owners will receive an instant credit decision and, if approved, can choose installments of 3 to 48 months. For example, a $200 purchase at a 15% annual interest rate would cost customers $34.81 over 6 months, for a total of $208.84.

Amazon initially partnered with Affirm in August 2021 to allow select customers to pay for orders of $50 or more in installments. Affirm expanded to Amazon Canada in 2022 and was first integrated into Amazon Pay as a payment option earlier this year.

Recently, Walmart Canada also announced that it will allow customers to choose an interest-free "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) payment method powered by Klarna, which can be used when customers visit Walmart.ca and shop with WalmartCanada.

The fact that the two giants are simultaneously increasing their investment in BNPL payments indicates to a certain extent that consumer demand for installment payments is rising, and also reflects that competition during this year's peak season will be more intense.

Walmart revealed that the launch of BNPL payments comes at a time when demand for BNPL among Canadian consumers is growing rapidly, with preferences shifting toward flexible, more valuable payment methods. Canadian BNPL payments are reportedly growing 51.6% annually and are expected to reach $2.13 billion by the end of 2023.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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