Affirm partners with Blackhawk Network

According to Affirm’s officials, the company is committed to not penalise individuals for being late for a payment. As per a recent Affirm survey, 70% of US residents plan to purchase a gift card in the 2023 holiday season. By joining forces with Blackhawk Network, Affirm can now provide its flexible and transparent payment options to customers, while also expanding into a new segment and growing the reach of its network. Representatives from Blackhawk Network stated that considering that the company is a partner for brands around the world, the collaboration with Affirm allows it to offer consumers an improved method of paying for gift cards.

Blackhawk Network’s research shows that digital gift cards are expanding more than twice as fast as physical gift cards, with the overall US gift card market being projected to reach USD 260 billion by 2026. In the study, the company evaluated gift card programs across various platforms, such as physical stores, websites, and mobile apps, in terms of accessibility, options, and recipient experience. The collaboration between Blackhawk Network and Affirm allows merchants to provide eligible holiday shoppers additional flexibility to finance last-minute gift purchases after most shipping deadlines passed. Currently, Blackhawk Network works with 37,000 partners and has approximately 400,000 channel touchpoints globally, while connecting with more than 300 million shoppers on a daily basis.

As a participant in global branded payment technologies, Blackhawk Network aims to strengthen relationships between brands and their customers, employees, and partners by converting transactions into connections. The company’s portfolio includes Gift Cards and eGift products, promotion and distribution for revenue growth, Rewards and Incentives, and Payments that allow businesses and customers to access and disburse funds. In recent months, Blackhawk Network entered several collaborations to advance its development strategy.

At the beginning of September 2023, Blackhawk Network partnered with Visa to introduce its global environmental sustainability initiative. At that time, Visa open-loop prepaid cards offered by Blackhawk Network to third-party retail networks were set to be transitioned from plastic to sustainable paper-based materials.

Furthermore, in July 2023, Blackhawk Network expanded its collaboration with Recharge.com to digitally distribute gift cards across the US and Canada. The company intended to provide egift and virtual prepaid card brands through Recharge.com’s digital marketplace, with some of the types of cards included being merchant-specific gift cards, open loop cards, and multi-store egifts.

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