BUY NOW pay later (BNPL) firm Laybuy says it is accelerating its UK expansion plans after reporting a 70 per cent jump in revenues in the last three months as Brits splurged over Black Friday and Christmas.

The Auckland-based firm doubled down on its annual targets after passing NZ$1.1bn (£540m) annual revenue and adding 2000 new merchants in the third quarter alone, including high street stalwarts GAP, Timberland, and River Island.

Gary Rohloff, chief executive of Laybuy, told City A.M. that the firm was now ramping up UK growth plans. "We've had a stellar third quarter driven by growth in the UK, which continues to go to plan. The UK really is our growth engine."

Rohloff said that the UK BNPL market is in its "relative infancy in comparison to the Australasian market" and the growth opportunities are therefore "so much greater than they are down here right now."

The firm has tempted in a number of big-name retail partners with products including an in-app card that allows shoppers to use BNPL for in-store payments.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper