Shopify is working to help merchants and customers overcome many of the typical problems with money. For merchants, Shopify makes it incredibly easy to accept payments, and recently introduced new loan options for working capital to enable growth. On the consumer side, Shop Pay aims to be an easy payment method to be used by consumers across all Shopify stores. Soon, this will include financing options through a new partnership between Shopify and Affirm.

Credit card alternative start-up Affirm is partnering with e-commerce giant Shopify to power a new way for consumers to split up purchases without interest or fees.

“Shop Pay Installments” — a new option that Canada-based Shopify is rolling out later this year, will give approved Shop Pay customers this option at checkout, with their total purchase split into four equal, bi-weekly payments, which will be processed and handled by Affirm.

It's important to note that the payments are zero interest and fee-free for consumers. This sets Affirm apart from some other buy now, pay later payment options that charge high interest rates for these types of layaway payment plans.

It stands to reason that other layaway payment providers will be negatively impacted by this change. Though nothing about the partnership specifically mentions discontinuing the usage of other apps, the tops apps available in the Shopify App store for 'pay later' are unofficial install apps and messaging apps for Afterpay, Klarna, and Sezzle.

By making it easy for any merchant to accept layaway payments, and without the typical cashflow problems for inventory-laden businesses, Shopify is solving money issues for vendors. Customers continue to enjoy an array of payment options, including the ability to pay over time with a pre-existing Shop Pay account, making the setup & application process nearly seamless.