On Tuesday, Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AFRM) announced it is expanding its partnership with Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT), sending its shares up as much as 16.1%. With their existing partnership, Walmart customers are able to purchase goods online and in stores by pre-applying for credit from the buy-now-pay-later company and then showing a barcode to a checkout sales associate. With the expansion, customers can also scan the barcode at a self-checkout kiosk.
A Clear Need To Boost Peak Holiday Shopping
The National Retail Federation finds that Affirm's move shows the importance of in-store shopping as U.S. holiday sales growth is expected to slow in December as well after the November slowdown. Shoppers are increasingly delaying payments as U.S. credit card balances hit record highs with the rise of defaults. financial services tech firm FIS data shows that buy now, pay later ...