What catches your eye while you are at the checkout page making an online purchase? An offer, is it?
How about knocking out the whole method of making payment and go for an installment plan instead? Yes, we are talking about ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ plans that are currently flourishing right now.
Be it retail corners or online shopping, either way, there seems to be a huge growth in the services. There are so many third-party companies that offer such programs as Affirm, Klarna, and so on.
Currently, these plastic cards are not as useful as they use to be. To add to the futuristic options, the contribution of these cards is very less.
Speaking of contribution, how could we forget the Pandemic contribution to this. The fundamentals were shaken and so were the working habits. What made the whole ”Buy Now, Pay Later’ culture popular?
Let’s take a quick look at the current dynamics.
‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ – Getting on Top
‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ or BNPL are becoming the go-to options for Gen Y and Gen Z. Be it for instant credit or for making payments, BNPL is the way that sorts it all out.
Do you wanna order your favorite pizza on Swiggy or your favorite dress from Myntra? There are so many Buy Now Pay Later options to consider from the available choices. Companies that are as huge as Amazon and Flipkart offer ‘White Label’ for BNPL’s partnerships.
E-commerce payment options like Credit and Debit cards are losing over UPI. These are the current stats talking. Along with UPI, digital wallets and BNPL are also proudly taking over.
Focusing only on BNPL, it has seen a growth of 1.6% back in 2019 and 3% in 2020. As per the analysis and stakes, it could go up to 9% by 2024.
Fintech apps now have started focusing on BNPL options in addition to UPI payments. In the offline retail world, it is becoming very popular too.
Questions? Let’s face them!
Why choose BNPL over regular credit cards, right?
First off, to be able to use a credit card for financial needs, you need to apply for one and the total time that you have to invest in getting the card delivered, is a different story altogether.
So, the first reason is to Wait! Because, obviously, we belong to the impatient generation.
The second reason is the documents that you need to provide to ensure that you have a stable income.
To keep these aside, Apple Inc. is also dropping in to endure the functionality of the Apple Pay Platform.
Interesting.
For the new Apple Pay Product, Goldman Sachs Group will be behind the plan and the lender.
Lily Varon, a Forrester Research, says – “Apple and PayPal getting into this is an indicator that this kind of flexibility—this kind of ‘fintech-ification’ of our everyday commerce experiences—isn’t going to go away anytime soon,”
Adds, “This isn’t a blip.”
Clearly, the tech giants have dropped their foot and we can wait to see what the future holds.
