Abercrombie app adds millennial-friendly Venmo payment option

[NEW YORK] Abercrombie & Fitch Co is hoping millennials and Generation Z shoppers like purchasing hoodies and jeans with their Venmo accounts as much as they like buying pizza.

Starting Tuesday, shoppers using the retailer's namesake and Hollister apps will be able to select the popular payment platform as an option when checking out. The company's mobile apps are its fastest-growing digital channel, making them key to a revival at the youth clothing store, which saw sales rise last fiscal year after four annual declines.

Abercrombie joins a wave of retailers adding a Venmo option since the payments app opened its doors to merchants last year. Venmo has been a hot trend among young people who carry less cash and prefer quick online payments. The person-to-person money-transferring app, owned by PayPal Holdings Inc, processed more than US$46 billion dollars in total payment volume in the 12 months through June 30.

BLOOMBERG