Google Pay has partnered with digital financial services company Zip to offer users buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) options.

The service will be available to U.S users of the payment service provider in January next year, offering customers enhanced flexibility in their payment choices at checkout, as the company revealed BNPL adoption is “on the rise”.

The move comes as recent research from Zip showcased that 47% of BNPL users find this payment method particularly appealing due to its purchase-splitting feature.

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Google Senior Director, Drew Olson said: “We are always looking for ways to give people a more helpful checkout experience when shopping on Google.

“By teaming up with BNPL providers like Zip, we are able to give Google Pay users another payment option when checking out, while providing merchants with another tool to drive their growth.”

Zip Co-founder and U.S CEO, Larry Diamond added: “Consumers are increasingly seeking flexibility at checkout, while merchants are looking for innovative ways to boost sales and enhance customer loyalty.

“With Zip available in the Google Pay checkout experience, we are bridging a gap and providing a flexible credit product for the many consumers overlooked by traditional credit products.

“By offering Zip payment solutions through Google Pay, we’re empowering consumers with more choices while providing merchants with a powerful tool to increase conversion rates and build lasting customer relationships. It’s a win-win scenario where convenience meets commerce, fostering a more dynamic and responsive shopping experience.”

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The mobile tickets, which are currently being piloted in Glasgow, are created and fulfilled by ITSO Transit Hub’s cloud-based ticketing service and then stored in Google Pay. Through Near Field Communication (NFC), they enable passengers to tap in and validate their journeys on compatible Ticketer electronic ticket machines or ticket gates. The solution is called Host Card Emulation.

Following the pilot in Glasgow, the solution will be rolled out across the First Group network, which is made up of more than 1.6m passengers.

“This is a monumental step for our company and a clear validation of our commitment to provide the best customer experience through technology innovation,” said Dave Lynch, chief information officer at First Group. “This collaboration marks the dawn of a new way to travel as it will enable our passengers to simply tap their Android smartphone on any contactless reader to validate their journey, through Google Pay they regularly use for their other digital cards. We look forward to working closely with our long-term partner Corethree, ITSO Transit Hub, the Google team and Ticketer to conduct a successful pilot and bring the offering to the masses.”

Ashley Murdoch, Corethree CEO, added: “We are extremely proud to be playing such a pivotal role in the delivery of a wholly new ticketing experience with ITSO Transit Hub, Google Pay and First Group… With smart digital cards showing no signs of abating and the appetite for customers to rely on their smartphones for virtually any aspect of their daily lives, we expect this solution to grow in demand. We look forward to conducting a successful trial and cement our collaboration with First, ITSO Transit Hub and Google Pay to shape the future of mobility.”

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Using Urban Airships technology, Vue can create and distribute personalised mobile wallet tickets across its websites, app and email marketing channel, dramatically increasing the number of customers that can experience the friction-free mobile wallet experience. The solution takes advantage of work carried out by Google Pay and Urban Airship earlier this year, aimed at streamlining the ticketing experience for travel, hospitality and entertainment brands.

“We are dedicated to offering the ultimate in big screen entertainment to our customers,” said Dan Green, head of digital at Vue Entertainment. “We know that more and more customers are using mobile wallets and we always move quickly to adopt technology that will improve customer experience. Our commitment to launching broad distribution for Google Pay movie tickets is a great example of understanding customer behaviour and reacting quickly to give them what they want. It will also enable us to offer enhanced personalisation which we know customers value.”

Google Pay payments will be available at more than 30 of Vues paperless sites. For tickets bought online, customers can instantly send a mobile ticket via email or download it from a website or app link, all with a single tap. Prior to show time, tickets will automatically display on customers lockscreens and will be readily accessible in mobile wallets. According to Bue, nearly half of its tickets sold via app transactions are already added to mobile wallets, and it is expecting this rate to rise.

“Bringing physical and digital experiences together is more important than ever to streamline both customer interactions and business operations,” said Brett Caine, CEO of Urban Airship. “Through our close work with Google Pay and Vue, were bringing mobile wallet movie tickets to everyones smartphone, eliminating the hassle of standing in queues, searching through emails for confirmations or having to first download another app. Its all about getting guests to the best seats, concessions and the big show more quickly.”

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The introduction of the mobile payment options from the tech giants adds to the already available Samsung Pay in the popular convenience retail chain.

“Frictionless experiences are the future, and digital payments are key to such experiences. Consumers prefer shopping at retailers that offer digital payment capabilities,” said Gurmeet Singh CDO and CIO of 7-Eleven. “The ability to pay with their smart device gives consumers one more reason to shop at 7-Eleven.

“The goal is to adopt consumer-facing technology to enhance the customer experiences, as well as the technologies that work behind the scenes to ensure seamless and effortless interactions. We continue to transform our business through digital, and these additional mobile payment options are the latest enhancements we have added to our in-and-out-of-store customer experiences.”

It was revealed a few months ago that the arrival of Apple Pay at 7-Eleven was imminent alongside a rollout to CVS Pharmacy stores. And, last month, Apple Pay became available in all of Costco’s US stores.

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The platform, which was launched in September 2017, has proved successful, with 22m users spanning consumers and businesses in over 300,000 of Indias towns, villages and suburbs. The app, which is built on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), enables users to easily make cash-like payments to others, and has seen over 750m transactions since launching.

So far, Google has focused Tez on peer-to-peer payments and recurring transactions like utility bills, but as it prepares to expand the service into other Asian markets, the firm is also dramatically increasing the number of places the platform can be used, both online and in the real world. Online merchants popular in India like Goibibo, FreshMenu and redBus will accept the rebranded Google Pay, and Google is seeking integration with bricks-and-mortar retailers including Big Bazaar, e-Zone and FBB.

“We have learnt that when we build for India, we build for the world, and we believe that many of the innovations and features we have pioneered with Tez will work globally,” said Caesar Sengupta, general manager for payments and Next Billion Users initiative at Google. “The world has certainly taken notice of Indias digital payments success and our deep investments here with Tez. Many governments are asking us to work with them to bring similar digital payments innovations to their countries. To make this happen, we will be unifying all of Googles payment offerings globally.”

According to Google, this unification will see features from Tez brought into Google Pay and vice versa over time, although the company has not specified which features will be ported over or when this will happen.

Among the features and programs that have been confirmed for Indias new Google Pay is additional support for local businesses. Google has announced plans to aid discoverability through Google Search and Maps, and enable business owners to communicate with their customers, all by building on the Google Pay platform. These functions are being tested with merchants in Bangalore and Delhi, with additional areas planned for the following months.

Google is also hoping to boost financial inclusion through Google Pay, and is partnering with local financial institutions including GDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank to facilitate pre-approved loans for customers through Google Pay. This functionality will be introduced “in the coming weeks”, with users able to take out customised loans with minimal paperwork.

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The new integrations will mean users who add PayPal to any one of Googles services will be able to have the option extended throughout the Google ecosystem with only minimal setup. For example, when adding their PayPal details to a Google Play account, users will be able to make the same details available as a payment option across Gmail, YouTube, Google Pay and Google Store, and even for peer-to-peer payments, without needing to log in again.

“Over the past few years, weve been focused on partnering across the industry to drive greater choice and flexibility in how and where our customers can pay – whether thats in mobile apps, online, in-store or across new contexts,” said Bill Ready, chief operating officer and executive vice president at PayPal. “As part of this effort, weve announced partnerships with leading payment networks, financial institutions and technology companies.

“PayPal and Google Pay share common goals of creating simple payment solutions across our platforms that enable people to shop more seamlessly. We look forward to continued collaboration that helps increase conversion for merchants and gives users the flexibility, security and speed that digital payments can offer.”

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The coffee chain has found enormous success in the mobile payments space, largely down to the fact its app ties payments to its loyalty program. The 23.4m users in 2018 puts it slightly ahead of Apple Pay’s 22m users in 2018, according to eMarketer. Meanwhile, Google Pay and Samsung Pay remain off the pace in terms of adoption with 11.1m and 9.9m users this year respectively.

 “The Starbucks app is one of the bigger success stories in mobile proximity payments,” said Cindy Liu, forecasting analyst at eMarketer. “It has gained traction thanks to its ability to tie payments to its loyalty rewards program. For users of the app, the value of paying with their smartphone is clear and simple—you can save time and money at the register, all while racking up rewards and special offers.”

Looking ahead, it’s expected that Starbucks will reach 29.8m users by 2022, keeping it ahead of Apple’s 27.5m, Google’s 14.9m, and Samsung’s 13.2m.

Despite user numbers continuing to grow amongst the top four proximity mobile payments apps, their share of mobile payment users will gradually continue to fall as new payment apps enter market.

Overall, the number of proximity mobile payment users in the US will grow by 14.5 per cent this year, reaching 55m. In addition, this year will over 25 per cent of US smartphone users aged 14 and over will make a proximity mobile payment at least once every six months.

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Leveraging its experience managing mobile wallets for travel, hospitality and entertainment leaders, Urban Airship has worked with Google Pay to create streamlined and engaging ticketing and boarding pass experiences. The combination of Google Pay’s new ticket support and the Urban Airship platform will make it easy for any business to provide best-in-class user experiences that maximise convenience while delivering customers valuable, up-to-the-minute information.

Unlike paper tickets or emailed boarding passes, mobile wallet tickets unlock new levels of convenience for travellers, with real-time updates such as departure time changes sent to the lockscreen, and personalised one-to-one messaging within card. Urban Airship sends real-time updates on flight details, gate changes and other valuable information to 250m travellers annually, for more than a dozen airlines and major airports. Its Digital Growth Platform and enterprise-class APIs also enable companies to create personalised mobile wallet tickets and boarding passes at massive scale, and deliver them through any digital channel, including apps, websites, SMS, email and other emerging platforms.

“We help businesses reinvent the customer experience by delivering the right information at the right time on any digital channel, and mobile wallets fill an increasingly critical role in that vision,” said Brett Caine, CEO and president of Urban Airship. “Google Pay’s new support for tickets and boarding passes means customers will always have up-to-date information when they need it most – on the go. Urban Airship has the only platform proven to operate at the scale necessary to ensure that this information is delivered quickly, accurately and reliably to hundreds of millions of people.”

Urban Airship’s platform aims to remove many of the obstacles involved in the process of creating, distributing and utilising mobile wallet passes. Its Adaptive Link technology makes it easy to create and distribute personalised tickets and boarding passes, using a single link to detect the customer’s device and automatically display a pass based on the user’s location. To maximise the value of information presented to customers, Urban Airship’s enterprise-class APIs can directly connect to flight information and reservation systems for real-time ticket updates and alerts.

“Our goal at Google Pay is to make transactions as seamless and functional as possible for consumers,” said Pali Bhat, vice president of payments products at Google. “Digitising users’ wallets and creating rich experiences that leverage Google’s great assets brings us one step closer to that goal.”

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Google Pay has replaced Android Pay and still does everything the previous app did. It sees the addition of a ‘Home’ tab, which shows the user their recent purchases, helps them find nearby stores, gives them access to rewards, and provides tips. Meanwhile, the ‘Cards’ tab is where the user’s credit and debit cards are stored, along with their loyalty programs, offers, and gift cards.

Despite bringing its two payment services closer together, Google Wallet isn’t actually included in Google Pay for the time being. Instead, the service has now become Google Pay Send in order to maintain the unified brand identity.

In the US and the UK, Google Pay and Google Pay Send will completely merge ‘within the next few months’, when the ability to send and request money comes to the former.

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