Fashion Retailer Intermix Partners With Affirm for BNPL

Designer fashion boutique Intermix has formed a partnership with buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Affirm, giving customers the option to pay for clothing in installments.

By choosing Affirm at checkout, approved Intermix customers can pick the payment option that works best for them, ranging from four interest-free biweekly payments to month-to-month installments, the companies said in a news release Wednesday (Sept. 21).

From there, customers see the total cost of their purchase and will never pay higher than they agree to upfront, as Affirm never charges late or hidden fees, per the release. The partnership extends to both physical and online Intermix stores, as well as the Designer Re/Mix hub.

“Our partnership with Affirm will allow our clients more payment flexibility and price transparency in the way they pay,” said Karen Katz, Intermix’s interim CEO. “As we continue to scale, we are looking at digital investments that will improve the overall customer experience and enable us to offer a highly personalized boutique shopping experience across both channels.”

As PYMNTS noted earlier this week, BNPL has been effective at promoting consumer spending during an era of high inflation. Businesses that offer BNPL have enjoyed larger ticket sizes, more frequent customer visits and other benefits that are keeping retailers going.

See also: Leveraging BNPL to Beat the Cost-of-Living Crisis

BNPL gives consumers an incentive to make potentially daunting purchases even amid times of economic hardship. Our research found that 46% of customers who could not access traditional credit options turned to BNPL to make purchases they could not have otherwise afforded.

Additionally, 47% of consumers expressed interest in BNPL for expensive, one-time retail purchases.

BNPL services are particularly popular among younger generations such as millennials and Generation Z. More than half of Gen Z shoppers — 56% — showed interest in using BNPL options at department stores, and 52% were interested in doing so at local businesses. These shares were 57% and 46% among millennials, respectively.