By Wayne Pommen, Chief Revenue Officer, Affirm
As consumer demand for flexible payment options continues to accelerate, merchants have multiple options to choose from. And it’s no accident that nearly 90% of top ecommerce brands in the U.S., including some of the very largest retailers on the planet, choose to work with Affirm, and that we’re the leading pay-over-time provider in the country.
Why? According to our partners, it comes down to our unique ability to consistently convert sales – not just on day one but over the long-term – at scale, while doing right by the consumer. It also comes down to the things we don’t do – such as profiting off of consumer data or charging late fees – unlike our competitors, which earn us our partners’ trust and deliver maximum business value.
Here are some of the reasons why our partners prefer Affirm.
Breadth of payment options: Our merchants tell us that nobody maximizes consumer choice and flexibility at checkout quite like Affirm, given the range of our payment options. While the standard BNPL loan is around six weeks, Affirm’s plans span from 30 days to 24, 36, or even 60 months, and support cart sizes ranging from $35 to $30,000. We’re also able to offer consumers tailored and targeted merchant-funded credit offers. This could mean a special 0% APR promotion or a longer repayment term. The result is more value for the consumer and therefore more growth for the merchant where they’re shopping.
Market-leading underwriting: Our sophisticated underwriting, powered by over a decade's worth of data and proprietary machine learning models, maximizes approvals while ensuring positive credit outcomes for Affirm. We assess a consumer's ability to repay with each transaction, making real-time credit decisions and offering customized payment plans for the given moment. Because Affirm doesn’t charge late fees or compound interest, we have no way of benefiting from a consumer falling behind on their payments. Our interests are completely aligned with the consumer, and as a result, we only extend credit we believe can and will be repaid. Our models continuously improve with every decision and new piece of data. Additionally, our ability to make complex credit decisions beyond a simple "yes" or "no" – for example, by offering shorter terms or requiring a down payment – enables us to approve more users and provide more purchasing power than our competitors.
Business model alignment: Affirm’s success is tied to the success of our consumers and merchants – we only win when they win, and our business model and practices reflect that. Affirm doesn’t profit off of consumer data, for example. Our products are not designed to get users in the door, only for us to turn around and sell their data to other brands. We also aren’t going to do something if it isn’t sustainable for the partnership long-term – whether that’s throwing money at a new partner to convince them to sign with us or approving their customers once and never again.
Fair and transparent approach: The fact that Affirm has never and will never charge late or hidden fees matters to our partners and their customers. Partners appreciate our mission to build honest financial products that improve lives, and recognize that our pro-consumer experiences reflect positively on them. There are only benefits to having Affirm’s logo on their website.
High-value consumer network: For merchants, working with Affirm is an opportunity to reach and engage with a group of high-frequency, high-quality shoppers. We have earned the trust of more than 50 million consumers, who spend two times more with Affirm than our competitors. They’re also extremely loyal to Affirm, with over 90% of our transactions coming from repeat users. Our consumers are not overextended or coming to Affirm as a last resort – they’re transacting with us time and time again because they love Affirm and the value we uniquely provide.
Merchant collaboration: Affirm is second to none in our ability to scale with partners and provide truly custom experiences for them. We are a tech company first and foremost, and we’re there to collaborate, problem-solve, and even create bespoke solutions. With Shopify, for example, we jointly partnered to launch a completely new product in Shop Pay Installments, which we designed to match the user experience their customers already know and expect with Shop Pay. We have the right technology and talent in place to go deep with our partners, creating wholly unique solutions that meet their needs and goals.
The things we do and don’t do matter, especially when it comes to driving value for our partners. We’ve helped hundreds of thousands of merchants drive sales, increase average order values, reach new and repeat users, and boost customer loyalty and satisfaction – all through products that are uniquely honest and consumer-first. The numbers speak for themselves: Affirm’s partners reported a 70% lift in average cart sizes in our fiscal year 2024 and see nearly 30% fewer abandoned carts compared to other BNPL providers.
We are proud that over 335,000 merchants and counting trust Affirm to help them grow and better serve their customers. We look forward to welcoming even more merchants to this network – especially as we grow beyond the borders of North America – and to proving time and time again that there’s only one Affirm.
Payment options through Affirm are subject to eligibility, and are provided by these lending partners: affirm.com/lenders. CA residents: Loans by Affirm Loan Services, LLC are made or arranged pursuant to California Finance Lender license 60DBO-111681.