Ace Taps Affirm for BNPL Hardware Purchases

Ace Hardware has launched a partnership with pay later provider Affirm.

This collaboration, announced Wednesday (Oct. 1), provides a pay-over-time option for hardware customers buying in store at Ace’s 5,200, mostly independently owned, locations.

“From essential daily repairs to bigger home upgrades, Ace is where people go for their home improvement needs—and it’s a category where flexibility at checkout really matters,” Pat Suh, senior vice president of revenue at Affirm, said in a news release.

According to the release, Ace customers can pay in-store with Affirm by scanning a QR code at checkout in participating stores and undergoing a real-time eligibility check. Approved consumers will get payment options for purchases starting at $50.

With this collaboration, Ace joins more than 375,000 Affirm retailers working with Affirm, including World Market, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm, the release added.

As PYMNTS wrote earlier this week, buy now, pay later (BNPL) offerings like Affirm’s are helping to lessen the impact of tariffs on retail shoppers.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence — based on a survey of 60 executives — has found that 90% of goods firms have already increased prices in the last 12 months in response to macroeconomic volatility. However, 60% of companies overall — and 75% of goods-focused firms — report said they were seeing a decrease in profit margins even after those increases, with most describing the downturn as moderate.

The research has also shown that consumers are adapting to higher prices instead of retreating, with spending intentions still strong for both essential and discretionary categories.

“Households continue to budget carefully, but many will still want to make holiday purchases — underscoring the durability of demand even in a higher-cost environment,” PYMNTS wrote. “This resilience provides retailers with a degree of confidence that modest price adjustments will not derail holiday traffic.”

One factor helping sustain demand through all this is the ongoing rise of BNPL. As covered here, BNPL adoption has increased rapidly as consumers seek out flexible ways to manage their holiday budgets.

“By spreading payments over time, shoppers are able to absorb higher prices without immediately straining their cash flow,” PYMNTS wrote. “For retailers, BNPL not only supports conversion rates but also encourages larger basket sizes, making it an important tool as costs rise along the supply chain.”