FlexiGroup Limited today announced it passed the 2 million customer milestone for interest-free payments, which includes buy now, pay later (BNPL) platforms Humm and Bundll, which launched in Australia last year. 

Over 380,000 new customers have been added in the past 11 months, and growth was particularly strong among those BNPL services.

Online sales volumes for Humm increased by 282% for the five months to May 2020.

Two billion dollars worth of sales were processed across Flexigroup's retail platforms for the 11 months to May 2020, and Flexigroup's apps were downloaded 600,000 times over this period, making it one of the largest players in the BNPL space in Australia and New Zealand. 

Flexigroup’s Chief Executive Officer Rebecca James said a key point of difference for Flexigroup is its interest-free instalments for transactions over $1,000, which is "well in excess of the industry average".

Zip Money, for example, charges interest on purchases between $1,000 and $30,000. 

"We don’t believe in a one size fits all approach. Our services are designed not only with category-specific features, but individually customisable payment options that empower each consumer to make their own decisions, set their own plan and ultimately stay totally in control of their own buying," Ms James said. 

"It is this approach which continues to drive growth in high value verticals such as health, home and home improvement, and luxury goods."

Flexigroup also noted that a significant change is the number of times customers are choosing to use its payment services – now nine times a year on average and growing.

"This demonstrates that our strategy is well and truly working, and that our brands are now well entrenched with our customers," Ms James said. 

Buy now, pay later usage up overall 

As at February, major BNPL players Afterpay and Zip combined had 4.9 million customers across Australia and New Zealand:

  • Afterpay claimed 3.1 million of these customers, up 26% from its half-year results the previous year; and
  • Zip Co experienced an 80% increase in customers from December 2018 to December 2019, with the total number rising to 1.8 million. 

Overall, the BNPL market is set to grow massively in the coming years, potentially doubling its market share by 2023, according to a March report by Worldpay. 

The NAB Online Retail Sales Index sees BNPL as a $320 billion market opportunity in Australia alone, and the growth of BNPL has coincided with the rapid decline in credit card use. 

BNPL has proved particularly popular among younger generations.