Amazon to unveil Affirm buy now, pay later for small business

Amazon is unveiling its first buy now, pay later checkout option for the millions of small business owners who use its online store, CNBC learned exclusively.

The tech giant confirmed Thursday that its partnership with Affirm is expanding to include Amazon Business, the e-commerce platform that caters to companies.

Affirm shares jumped more than 15% after the news.

The service, with loans ranging from $100 to $20,000, will be available to all eligible customers by Black Friday, or Nov. 24. It is specifically for sole proprietors, or small businesses owned by a single person, the most common form of business ownership in the U.S.

It’s the latest sign of the widening adoption of a fintech feature that exploded in popularity early in the pandemic, along with the valuations of leading players Affirm and Klarna. When boom turned to bust in 2021, and valuations in the industry dropped steeply, skeptics pointed to rising interest rates and borrower defaults as hurdles for growth and profitability.

But for users, the option is touted as being more transparent than credit cards because customers know how much interest they will owe up front. That’s made its appeal durable for households and businesses coming under increasing strain as excess cash from pandemic stimulus programs has dwindled.

“We constantly hear from small businesses that say they need payment solutions to manage their cash flow,” Todd Heimes, director of Amazon Business Worldwide, said in an interview. “We offer the ability to use credit cards and to pay by invoice; this is another option available to small business customers to pay over time.”

Amazon Business was launched in 2015 after the company realized businesses were using its popular retail website for office supplies and bulk purchases. The division reached $35 billion in sales this year and has more than 6 million customers globally.