The news: Afterpay partnered with a slate of new merchants to increase flexible financing options for consumers ahead of the holidays, per a press release.

New partners include Thursday Boots, Diesel, and SP5DER Worldwide.

Why this matters: More consumers anticipate buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing at checkout. This year’s Cyber 5 BNPL volume shattered records after shoppers alternatively financed $747.5 million in ecommerce. 

Merchants trying to score larger holiday shopping spend need to integrate with BNPL providers to reach consumers who vary from financially stressed parents to middle- and upper-income families trying to avoid credit card debt for larger purchases.

Partnership strategy: Afterpay has taken a traditional  approach to merchant partnerships, onboarding mid-sized brands onto its BNPL platform instead of striking overarching tie-ups with payment providers or wallets like Apple Pay. 

Block may be trying to grow its own network capabilities and Cash App by working directly with merchants to avoid losing transaction fees to competing wallets and other payment providers.

Our take: Block is betting on its ecosystem effect raising the value of all of its products. However, major partnerships are still needed to rocket a BNPL product to high use, like Klarna’s integrations with Walmart.