Buy Now Pay Later Increasing In Retail

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Buy Now Pay Later Increasing In Retail

Buy Now Pay Later Increasing In Retail

Buy now and pay later is the new trend in online shopping. It successfully emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown period in 2020 and 2021. The facility is now taking an entry in stores. Soon customers can avail it while shopping at nearby stores.

Shortened and widely known as BNPL, the service exploded online throughout the Covid pandemic and spending in the United States is up by about 230 percent since the beginning of 2020.

Nikki Baird from Aptos, who looks after the strategy chaired as VP, said online customers have benefited from the so-called BNPL and now they are looking for the same in physical retail outlets.

Klarna lately partnered Brookfield Properties to offer the service to both stores and tenants and the company is simultaneously working with several more retailers including Sephora, Forever 21 and Mary's Lululemon to boost the capabilities of BNPL.

Afterpay was launched in fall 2020 to offer the same in physical stores and since then it has witnessed outstanding demand from retail outlets due to its omnichannel approach to customers as well as retailers.

The Afterpay shopping was up by 384 percent YoY between October and December of last year and the rise in Black Friday shopping was 442 percent.

CEO of Sezzle, a BNPL platform, said the concept of buy now and pay later was internationally popular before it entered the US markets. About 60 percent Australian and 47 percent Britons said in a survey by September Marqeta to prefer the offer.

The concept kicked off online first and witnessed success. Thereafter, both retailers and customers asked how to get the same facility at offline stores.

A report of May Blackhawk Network reveals about 75 percent of the customers wish to pay at physical stores as they are doing it online. About 22 percent said BNPL availability at offline stores may encourage them in the shopping of IRL.

The eyes are now on the potential regulations and it is learned the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is closely monitoring how BNPL is being used.

Klarna US head David Sykes said similar experiences at both online and offline are valuable to boost the platform. The BNPL conversion rates jumped by about 30 percent, reveals the RBC Capital Market.

Sykes added that with more availability of BNPL at various retailers, the platform would become a preferred method of payment for shoppers.

Meanwhile, a fresh wave of coronavirus has hit a couple of countries severely including China and South Korea. An increased number of cases is being witnessed in Europe. It is feared the world may again take the route of lockdown to protect people and health workers from the pandemic.

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