Afterpay-Azazie Partnership Marries BNPL To Bridal Fashion

Bridal fashion brand Azazie announced Thursday (June 17) it has formed a partnership with Afterpay to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) options to brides and their parties.

The San Jose company says it has seen an increase in the average order value for customers using Afterpay to make purchases in four, no-interest installments.

According to Azazie’s in-house research, 70 percent of the 5,600 brides the company polled said they planned to spend between $10,000 and $50,000 on their weddings. The same percentage said they wanted to pay for their weddings in installments. More than half the brides-to-be indicated their wedding budget changed during the COVID-19 outbreak.

This is in keeping with the larger trend of BNPL carving out a place for itself in the U.S. According to PYMNTS research from earlier this year, 14 percent of American eCommerce shoppers used BNPL to fund their most recent purchases.

Use of buy now, pay later also outpaced other transaction methods, such as gift cards and prepaid cards — 12 percent — store cards, which just 4 percent of shoppers reported using.

“With the wedding season back in full swing, this is an ideal time to bring flexible spending to brides and their bridal parties,” said Zahir Khoja, general manager of North America at Afterpay, which is based in Australia but counts the U.S. as its largest market.

“We’re proud to bring Afterpay to Azazie customers so they can access their perfect looks while spending their money responsibly, avoiding revolving debt and interest that comes with credit card payments.”

The partnership comes two months after Afterpay reported record sales for Q3 FY21, with underlying sales rising 123 percent year-over-year. While the company saw strong performance across the world, American underlying sales were up 211 percent, with U.S. becoming the first region to record more than $1 billion in monthly underlying sales.