In an Australian first, Zip’s Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solutions have been integrated with PPRO’s global digital payments infrastructure, joining the likes of PayPal, Stripe and Alipay.

The move sees PPRO expand its Australian payments capabilities and allows global partners and their local merchants to offer Australian consumers the opportunity to use their preferred payment method at checkout when shopping online.

PPRO’s announcement said research conducted by Zip found merchants providing the BNPL payment method at checkout experienced a 20 per cent increase in conversion and top line sales, and a 60 per cent rise in average order value.

“We are thrilled to partner with PPRO and become the first Australian BNPL payment method to be added to their digital payments infrastructure,” Tommy Mermelshtayn, Chief Strategy Officer at Zip, said.

“This exciting new alliance will allow us to globally scale our partner ecosystem by supporting our core markets, and better manage our partner onboarding process so that our merchants and customers continue to have the frictionless experience they expect from Zip.

“We’re on a mission to become the first payment choice everywhere and every day, and partnerships like these will get us there sooner.”

This comes as the pandemic hastened Australia’s adoption of e-commerce and interest continues to rise in cross-border payment opportunities for consumers. PPRO said the Australian online retail market is forecasted to grow by 10.3 per cent in compound annual growth rate (CAGR) by 2024, with sales expected to hit US$59.4 billion.

PPRO data also revealed the top three cross-border shopping markets for Australians are China, the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Surprising to some, Australia is one of the most complex markets in the Asia Pacific region when it comes to its payments landscape,” Tristan Chiappini, VP and Head of Partnerships APAC at PPRO, said.

“While cash is out, Australians are ahead of the curve when it comes to using alternative payment methods like instant bank transfers, digital wallets, and BNPL products to transact online.

“In fact, the popularity of BNPL continues to grow in the country, it will soon overtake credit and debit cards as a preferred payment method.

“The addition of Zip to our Australian payments mix enables us to better serve our PSP partners and their merchants, giving them greater access to Australian consumers and the country’s booming e-commerce sector.”