Move Over Santa! Furby Partners with Afterpay As The Gift Expert for the Impossible People on Your Holiday List

According to data insights from Afterpay, the buy now, pay later payments option, consumers are choosing to shop in-store and online this holiday season - fueled by retailers implementing BNPL in-store.

Notably, data from Accenture's report, "The Economic Impact of Buy Now, Pay Later in the U.S.," shows that BNPL in the U.S. has increased 230 percent in the last year and continues to surge during the holiday shopping period.

For Afterpay this has resulted in 11 percent more Gen Z consumers shopping year-over-year through its platform between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And the company has reported it has already experienced a 34 percent increase of orders through its service this holiday season year-over-year.

"As we celebrate another holiday season in the pandemic, consumers were eager to gain a sense of normalcy and spend on gifts for themselves and loved ones," said Zahir Khoja, Afterpay's general manager of North America. "Compared to previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekends, we're thrilled to partner with even more U.S. merchants to offer Afterpay's convenient and flexible payment method - revitalizing brick-and-mortar spending and helping consumers budget before the new year."

The company said in a statement that it has seen e-commerce maintaining a stronghold resulting from accelerated digital adoption over the last year, with a 30 percent increase year-over-year of Afterpay users spending online. However, due to supply chain issues, 442 percent more shoppers are buying items in-stores compared to last year, rather than waiting for online orders to arrive.

Afterpay's data revealed the fashion and fitness categories were the most popular with shoppers this year, seeing an increase of 26 percent and 46 percent respectively. Consumer interest during the weekend was also increased in homeware and beauty with leading home items being air fryers, candles and coffee makers. The top U.S. best-selling items included clogs, weekender bags, trucker hats, pajamas and shoes.

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