Afterpay, part of Block Inc., has announced a major step forward for its advertising division with the integration of Square’s merchant and transaction data into the Afterpay Ads platform.
The move creates Australia’s most comprehensive commerce media ecosystem, a platform built on real, first-party financial data that connects both sides of the shopping journey.
By combining Square’s vast network of merchants from small businesses to national retailers with Afterpay’s consumer behaviour insights, the platform delivers a new level of predictive and actionable intelligence for advertisers.
“We’re not just adding more data; we’re making it easier for businesses of all types and sizes to reach real customers at the right moment,” said Andrew Gilbert, VP of Advertising at Afterpay Ads.
“This integration marks our evolution into a unified commerce intelligence platform that shows the complete customer journey, helping brands understand why people buy, not just what they buy.”
Andrew Gilbert, VP of Advertising at Afterpay Ads
Afterpay’s new Payment Intelligence Platform bridges the gap between marketing and financial insight.
With transaction-level data spanning more than 80 industry verticals, the integration allows brands to identify patterns and predict purchase intent before it occurs.
The platform’s insights go beyond surface-level demographics, revealing what the company describes as the “unknown customer”, the consumers and behaviours that traditional retail media networks overlook.
From small café transactions to global retail purchases, the platform offers a holistic view of what drives Australians’ real-world spending habits whether it’s the gym visit that sparks an activewear purchase or the weekend market trip that signals sustainable values.
Data that drives decisions
The integrated platform gives advertisers a series of competitive advantages, including unique access to omni-channel transaction data, predictive purchase modelling, and authentic behavioural signals captured from real payments not cookies or assumptions.
It also supports activation across multiple environments, helping brands meet consumers at the moments that matter most, both online and in-store.
“For brands, the integration transforms fragmented data into unified customer understanding delivering both depth of insight and breadth of reach that drives measurable campaign performance,” Gilbert explained.
A new generation of shoppers
As digital commerce continues to evolve, Afterpay’s platform aims to give marketers the ability to reach consumers whose purchasing patterns are changing faster than ever.
“As Gen Z and Millennials continue to reshape commerce with new financial habits and cross-category shopping behaviours, our insights capture these evolving patterns in real time,” Gilbert said.
“This helps brands stay ahead of shifting consumer preferences with life-stage intelligence that reveals not just what customers buy, but when they’re ready to buy it to better grow their business.”