Walmart-backed fintech reportedly launches buy now, pay later offering
A fintech startup whose lead investor is Walmart reportedly now offers buy now, pay later (BNPL) services at Walmart stores.
One, a fintech company jointly backed by Walmart and investment firm Ribbit Capital is enabling flexible BNPL payments for select purchases at some Walmart stores, reported CNBC. (Ribbit Capital is one of the venture capital firms behind Robinhood.)
At a Walmart store in New Jersey, CNBC observed in-store ads for BNPL services provided by One for purchases ranging from $100 to several thousand dollars for products including electronics, jewelry, power tools and automotive accessories. One’s BNPL service is reportedly not available for grocery, alcohol or weapons purchases.
In late 2022, media reports indicated that One was planning to introduce a BNPL service that customers could use online and in-store at Walmart as well as other retailers as early as 2023. Chain Store Age did not find One offered as a BNPL payment option during a search of the Walmart e-commerce site.
Interestingly, Walmart has been offering a flexible BNPL payment option with Affirm since February 2019, when it began allowing customers to use Affirm to make installment payments on purchases at more than 4,000 Walmart Supercenter stores nationwide.
Walmart also integrated Affirm as a payment option on the Walmart.com e-commerce site and makes the service available in Walmart Vision Centers.
In addition, Walmart has replaced its layaway program with installment payments from Affirm. Eligible Walmart customers can use Affirm to pay over time in monthly payments for purchases ranging from $144 to $4,000.
Other collaborative offerings from Walmart and Affirm have included a summer 2022 promotion that allowed eligible consumers who spent $300 or more on a single purchase with Affirm at Walmart, either in-store or online, to receive a free 90-day membership in the Walmart+ paid membership program.
Recently, Walmart Canada began collaborating with Klarna to offer BNPL payment on its e-commerce site and via the retailer’s and Klarna’s mobile apps.
Walmart, One and Affirm all declined to comment on the CNBC article. There has been no public statement regarding whether this would affect Walmart’s acceptance of Affirm BNPL payment service, which is currently still offered in the retailer’s stores and on its website.
BNPL appears to be growing in popularity with consumers. Findings from the inaugural J.D. Power U.S. Consumer POS Payment Program indicate that a slight majority (55%) of consumers say they have been using newer forms of digital payment methods, such as digital wallets, BNPL, merchant apps and even cryptocurrency; with 28% of those using BNPL, placing it only behind digital wallets in popularity.