The Splitit Ltd (ASX: SPT) share price is dropping lower on Thursday after the release of a trading update.
In early trade the buy now pay later provider's shares are down 1% to $1.30.
How is Splitit performing?
As with rivals Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P), Splitit performed strongly in November.
According to the release, Splitit achieved record merchant sales volume (MSV) during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotional period.
Over the holiday shopping event, the company reported MSV of US$15.3 million. This was an increase of 216% on the same period a year earlier.
This strong finish to the month led to the company reporting year-on-year November MSV growth of 255%.
Unlike Afterpay, which has a reasonably modest average order size, Splitit is being used for higher value items. Management notes that its average order value (AOV) remains above $1,000.
It advised that shoppers are taking advantage of the holiday shopping period to invest in their home and health, using Splitit to make purchases on their credit cards for important items and pay over time.
The company revealed that verticals with the highest volumes over the shopping week include Home, Fitness & Outdoor, and Jewellery & Accessories. The latter had an AOV of ~US$5K, driven by the purchase of diamonds and watches.
Splitit's CEO, Brad Paterson, commented: "We were delighted to see such exceptional activity this past week. This speaks to the significant need in the market for merchants to offer flexible payment solutions to shoppers. Never has it been more important in retail that shoppers can manage their cash flow without incurring new debt, and we're proud to partner with so many forward looking eCommerce businesses."
"We've also observed, both through the exceptional November period and via a recent shopper survey, that this holiday shopping event is expanding into a shopping season. Our survey told us 48% of US shoppers who purchased an item made their purchase in the week leading up to Black Friday," he added.
Customer numbers increase.
Splitit's total shoppers have now surpassed 410,000 with 48,000 new shoppers added over October and November. Management believes this reflects the growing acceptance of Splitit.
This growth was supported by the company's recent marketing campaign targeting US consumers.
Splitit has also seen the number of total merchants grow. It now has more than 1,600 on its platform, up 20% over the same two-month period.
This merchant growth is partly due to the company's recently launched self-onboarding platform, powered by its partnership with Stripe Connect. This allows merchants to start using the Splitit platform in a matter of minutes.
