BigCommerce, a no-code platform for e-commerce websites, announced that it has partnered with buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services provider Sezzle. The partnership will enable BigCommerce’s small and medium-sized merchants to offer interest-free BNPL facilities for end customers, including high-risk borrowers and younger shoppers.

Sezzle will be integrated as a payment gateway within the BigCommerce platform, allowing merchants to enable BNPL by adding the Sezzle widget at checkout. Merchants receive the full payment upfront, minus a handling fee, while users only pay 25% at the onset, followed by three automated installments (25% each) over the next six weeks.  

BigCommerce is a platform for creating e-commerce websites. It allows users to handle shipping, marketing, and payments, among other functions. The platform further assists users in cross-selling through multiple platforms, including Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Instagram. BigCommerce has a large customer base of around 60,000 online stores, with customers based in 120 countries. The company generated USD 152 million in revenue in 2020. 

Analyst Quicktake: BNPL facilities are closely linked to e-commerce; therefore, BNPL has also benefited from the Covid-19 pandemic. Around 60% of US shoppers have used BNPL financing for an online purchase this year (up from around 40% a year ago). As such, this partnership is likely to complement the growth of both BigCommerce and Sezzle. However, BigCommerce trails its peers Shopify and Wix in enabling its merchants to offer BNPL. Shopify entered the BNPL space by partnering with Affirm in July 2020, while Wix partnered with Afterpay in December 2020. Affirm and Afterpay rank #1 and #2 in the US BNPL market, with Sezzle being the somewhat distant third-largest operator.