Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs

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Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
FEATURE STORY (8)

Dapper Boi On Deploying
BNPL To Help Customers
Flexibly Meet Their
Gender-Neutral
Clothing Needs
     NEWS & TRENDS (11)             DEEP DIVE (16)

     64 percent of BNPL users       How big-ticket sales and online
     leverage such services more    marketplaces are driving BNPL
     frequently now than they did   services’ expansion across retail
     before March 2020              industries

        J U LY 2 0 2 1
Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
03        WHAT’S INSIDE
                                        A look at the latest buy now, pay later
                                        developments, including how more
                                        consumers around the world are
                                        leveraging the method and what this
                                        trend means for the future of retail as
                                        in-person shopping resumes in many
                                        markets

                              08        FEATURE STORY
                                        An interview with Charisse Pasche, co-
                                        founder of gender-neutral clothing brand
                                        Dapper Boi, on how the company offers
                                        inclusive sizing to fit any body type and
                                        flexible BNPL payment options to fit any
                                        budget

                              11        NEWS AND TRENDS
                                        Recent headlines from the space,
                                        including how 90 percent of Afterpay
                                        customers have begun using debit
                                        for their BNPL purchases and why
                                        merchants must keep digital and physical
                                        accessibility in mind as they prepare for
                                        the future of retail

                              16        DEEP DIVE
                                        An in-depth analysis of installment
                                        payment plans’ rising popularity in the
                                        retail world and how their use for big-
                                        ticket items and online marketplace
                                        purchases has been particularly crucial to
                                        driving growth

                              19        ABOUT
                                        Information on PYMNTS.com and Afterpay

Acknowledgment
The Buy Now, Pay Later Tracker® was done in collaboration with Afterpay,
and PYMNTS is grateful for the company’s support and insight. PYMNTS.com
retains full editorial control over the following findings, methodology and
data analysis.
Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
What’s Inside

WHAT'S
 INSIDE
In-person shopping’s unofficial 16-month-
long hiatus is drawing to a close in many
markets as vaccine availability ramps up
                                                into several low- or no-fee installments, are
                                                experiencing a particularly meteoric rise in
                                                popularity, and their retail reach now extends
and consumers grow more comfortable             across channels. Millennial and Generation Z
trekking out into the physical world once       consumers are driving much of this growth,
more. Customers’ retail preferences are not     but the payment method has begun to catch
what they were before March 2020, howev-        on with consumers of all ages.
er. Many took to purchasing both essential      Part of the challenge for merchants is deter-
and luxury items digitally over the past year   mining how best to implement installment
and a half, and there is good reason to be-     payment plans to meet this increase in de-
lieve these behaviors will have long-term       mand, especially as consumers begin to
staying power.                                  break out of their digital bubbles. Key indica-
Consumers’ payment habits have arguably         tors suggest that BNPL plans’ usage is on the
experienced some of the greatest chang-         rise for brick-and-mortar retail, for exam-
es during this time, with many opting for       ple, as installment payment service provider
digital solutions that allow them to flexi-     Afterpay stated that nearly 4.5 million con-
bly purchase items without incurring excess     sumers have set up the Afterpay Card to
debt or facing potentially exorbitant fees.     shop in person since the solution went live in
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment methods,      the fall of 2020. Signs also indicate that the
which allow consumers to purchase and ob-       payment method will become more popular
tain products while breaking their payments

                                                                        © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved   3
Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
What’s Inside

           in the travel, leisure and outdoor recreation   Around the BNPL space
           spaces as well.                                 BNPL solutions’ growing popularity with
           Consumers’ broad return to physical retail      consumers extends across numerous indus-
           has only just begun, and many are maintain-     tries, and it is undeniable that the pandemic
           ing at least some of their newly developed      has influenced this trend. One recent survey
           digital habits. This means retailers would      found that BNPL usage among consum-
           be wise to explore omnichannel approach-        ers grew nearly 50 percent between July
           es to offering installment payment plans,       2020 and March 2021. Almost two-thirds of
           especially as the line between physical and     respondents who had previously used in-
           digital commerce continues to blur.             stallment payment plans said they used
                                                           such solutions more often since March of
                                                           last year.
                                                           Installment payment services are gaining
                                                           momentum among consumers of all ages,
                                                           but research shows that younger consum-
                                                           ers are still the primary driving force behind
                                                           this expansion. A new study predicted that
                                                           45.1 million United States consumers were
                                                           expected to tap BNPL plans this year, rep-
                                                           resenting a year-over-year rise of 81 percent.
                                                           Millennials account for 43 percent of all in-
                                                           stallment payment plan users and Gen Z
                                                           consumers represent 30 percent.
                                                           A growing share of retailers and brands are
                                                           also coming to understand the draw of in-
                                                           stallment payment plans, leading some to
                                                           partner with solution providers to roll out
                                                           in-store and digital options. Afterpay recent-
                                                           ly announced that brands such as Amazon,
                                                           Nike, Nordstrom and Sephora can now en-
                                                           able customers to make payments using its
                                                           installment payment service, for example.
                                                           The company said that consumers with ac-
                                                           cess to its app could also browse and make
                                                           purchases from the new merchants and
                                                           brands on its Afterpay shop directory.
                                                           For more on these stories and other news
                                                           items from the BNPL space, read the
                                                           Tracker’s News and Trends section (p. 11).

4     © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved
Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
What’s Inside

Dapper Boi on offering flexible
clothing options, BNPL plans to meet
consumers’ needs
Finding the perfect clothing fit can be a
struggle for consumers with gender-neutral
fashion preferences, especially those who
need sizes or fits that can be unavailable in
specific styles. Offering inclusive options for
all body types is key to meeting consum-
ers’ needs, according to Charisse Pasche,
co-founder of gender-neutral clothing label
Dapper Boi. In this month’s Feature Story (p.
8), Pasche explains how providing flexible
sizing and style options — and supporting
BNPL plans that can break purchases into
more manageable installments — can help
consumers find clothes that fit themselves
and payment methods that fit their budgets.

Deep Dive: How digital marketplaces, big-
ticket purchases are leading BNPL’s retail
charge
The past 18 months pushed consumers out
of their digital comfort zones. Many sought
out new ways to pay that allowed them to
shop remotely while delivering much-needed
financial flexibility during a period of ex-
treme uncertainty. BNPL services have come
to the fore over the past several years, and
consumers taking to digital marketplaces or
making big-ticket purchases seem particu-
larly fond of them. More and more shoppers
are coming to expect these payment op-
tions as they make their ways back into
storefronts. This month’s Deep Dive (p. 16)
examines the retail shifts driving consumers’
usage of BNPL plans and details what mer-
chants must do to meet their needs.

                                                  © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved   5
Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
FIVE                                       48%
             FAST                                         Share of BNPL users who

            FACTS
                                                          will abandon a purchase
                                                          with a merchant
                                                          that does not offer
                                                          installment payment
                                                          plans at checkout

      14%                                                40%
      Portion of U.S.                                     Share of millennials
      eCommerce shoppers                                  who would be very
      who used BNPL                                       interested in tapping
      solutions to finance their                          BNPL solutions if they
      most recent purchases                               were offered

      $1T                                                27%
      Projected global volume                             Portion of business
      of installment payment                              owners who say the
      plan transactions                                   demand for BNPL
      by 2025                                             solutions is increasing*

*This data is based on a census-balanced survey of 2,977 respondents that PYMNTS conducted in
January. The survey gauged consumers' financial lifestyles, interest in using BNPL plans and pay-
ments preferences for online and in-store shopping.
Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
CUSTOMER
  JOURNEY
 Shop and                 Shop and
 buy online              buy in stores

              Checkout

  Select BNPL       Use BNPL
  as payment        mobile app

                                         Scan barcode

    Pay in installments

  Purchase complete
Dapper Boi On Deploying BNPL To Help Customers Flexibly Meet Their Gender-Neutral Clothing Needs
FEATURE
        STORY

8   © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved
Feature Story

Dapper Boi On Deploying                            to customers, and Dapper Boi thus turned
                                                   to BNPL provider Afterpay’s solution to
BNPL To Help Customers                             make installment payment plans a part of

Flexibly Meet Their                                its effort to streamline consumers’ shopping
                                                   experiences.
Gender-Neutral Clothing                            “We offer an Afterpay payment option that
Needs                                              breaks up order payments into four equal
                                                   amounts,” Pasche explained. “About 10
Charisse Pasche started Dapper Boi, a
                                                   percent of our customers currently use
gender-neutral apparel and accessories
                                                   Afterpay.”
label, with her wife in 2015 with a crowd-
funding campaign on Kickstarter. Six years         BNPL’s growing appeal for small fashion
and $1 million in revenue later, Dapper Boi        retailers
represents a growing breed of small, inde-         Dapper Boi observed that customers
pendent retailers that use flexible online         stepped up their BNPL usage last year, with
payments to reach audiences.                       consumers across all demographics showing
Pasche told PYMNTS that Dapper Boi’s goal          interest. Research shows that many consum-
is to be inclusive in the fashion items it sells   ers, especially millennials, view BNPL as a
as well as in the payment options it pro-          way to more affordably make purchases from
vides. The company caters to consumers             their preferred clothing brands. Customers
who shop for gender-neutral clothing but           are becoming more interested in payment
who may need a fit that traditional mascu-         methods that can limit credit card fees and
line clothing styles do not offer.                 promote more budget-conscious spending.

“Our primary customers at this time are            PYMNTS’ research also reveals that BNPL
women who prefer to present in attire              is experiencing a surge in popularity among
that is traditionally considered masculine,”       growing businesses in larger cities and urban
Pasche explained. “Our clothes have a clas-        areas, where a broader range of demograph-
sic masculine look, but they are designed          ic groups typically reside. Small to mid-sized
to fit the curves of anyone’s body. Most of        businesses (SMBs) such as Dapper Boi some-
our collection has sizes designed to fit ... all   times face stiff competition for customer
body types.”                                       interest in these crowded urban markets,
                                                   and being able to leverage BNPL can give
The couple launched Dapper Boi after
                                                   these companies a boost against larger,
Pasche’s wife faced challenges in finding the
                                                   more established firms.
clothing styles that she wanted and the siz-
es she needed, Pasche said. They realized          Growing SMBs have also reported nota-
that there was a need for clothing and oth-        ble increases in the number of consumers
er accessories that would apeal to others          using BNPL when shopping with them over
with similar tastes and figures. Meeting con-      the past 15 months, most likely caused by
sumers’ varied needs also required providing       the numerous financial challenges of 2020.
flexibility in pricing and payment, she noted.     Many retail locations closed due to pub-
                                                   lic health requirements, and consumers had
Offering simplified payments is another crit-
ical way to make products more accessible

                                                                           © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved   9
Feature Story

                                              less disposable income due to economic
                                              uncertainties.
                                              Pasche believes that many of BNPL’s benefits
                                              will keep Dapper Boi’s customers engaged in
                                              the long run even as the pandemic wanes.
                                              The payment option takes at least some of
                                              the budgeting guesswork out of shopping,
                                              she said.
                                              “The BNPL approach expands our reach, and,
                                              more importantly, allows our customers to
                                              purchase more products, like a snappy hen-
                                              ley [or] polo shirt to complement their new
                                              Dapper Boi jeans,” she explained. “We ex-
                                              pect usage of a BNPL option to grow along
                                              with the growth of our product offerings.”
                                              BNPL is poised to continue rising in popu-
                                              larity even as the pandemic becomes less
                                              threatening in certain markets. Retailers
                                              that leverage the method are likely to draw
                                              in new customers eager to more flexibly af-
                                              ford higher-end retail products and fashion
                                              items that fit their bodies — and their bud-
                                              gets — to a T.

10    © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved
NEWS
                                                                                                 News & Trends

& TRENDS
BNPL and the future of
retail
                                                with debit. Installment payment solutions
                                                provider Afterpay found that 90 percent of
                                                its customers have tapped debit to make
                                                purchases.
How customers’ changing retail habits are
driving BNPL adoption online and in stores      Recent research also suggests that cus-
Consumers’ retail habits are vastly dif-        tomers are increasingly turning to BNPL for
ferent than they were 16 months ago, and        in-store shopping as well as online purchas-
many have changed everything from how           es. Afterpay also found that consumers who
they shop to how they pay. This has been        use the payment method in stores and on-
particularly evident in the use of BNPL solu-   line tend to spend roughly 15 percent to
tions both online and in stores. Installment    20 percent more than those who do not.
payment plans have typically been favored       Customers are taking their penchant for
by debt-averse millennial and Generation        BNPL solutions into new industries as well.
Z consumers, but shoppers from all gen-         Afterpay, for example, recently announced
erations have been utilizing the payment        a partnership with storage solution retailer
method in recent months. They have also be-     The Container Store. The latter began offer-
gun more frequently pairing BNPL solutions      ing the BNPL option both in store and online
                                                last month.

                                                                      © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved   11
News & Trends

                                                          also revealed that 64 percent of BNPL users
                                                          have tapped the method more frequently
                                                          since the health crisis began. The top three
                                                          reasons customers listed for using BNPL
                                                          solutions over the past 18 months included
                                                          conserving cash in the event of an emergen-
                                                          cy (cited by 41 percent), shopping more (30
                                                          percent) and making more purchases de-

 Consumers’ use of
                                                          spite losing income (25 percent).
                                                          The study also offered insights into the

 installment payment
                                                          types of purchases consumers are mak-
                                                          ing when they use installment payment
                                                          plans. Rather than reaching for BNPL tools

 plans grew by almost                                     to strictly purchase necessities, custom-
                                                          ers appeared to be growing more inclined

 50 percent between                                       to tap them for several types of retail
                                                          purchases. Forty-eight percent used install-

 July 2020 and                                            ment payment plans to buy electronics, for
                                                          example, while 41 percent used them to pur-

 March 2021
                                                          chase clothing and fashion products and 39
                                                          percent tapped them for furniture and appli-
                                                          ances. This suggests that BNPL has become
                                                          a staple payment method for a growing
                                                          number of consumers, even as they begin to
                                                          more comfortably return to making nones-
                                                          sential retail purchases in stores and online.

                                                          Why merchants must reimagine digital and
                                                          physical retail with accessibility in mind
                                                          Offering flexible payment tools such as
                                                          BNPL solutions that can help customers
                                                          better afford their purchases only scratches
           Consumers tapping BNPL to conserve             the surface for merchants positioning them-
           funds, shop more across broad range of         selves for the future of retail. Many retailers
           retail areas                                   are reopening their brick-and-mortar loca-
           BNPL services have been gaining popular-       tions and are eager to drive in-store traffic,
           ity across a wide range of retail industries   and this reboot gives them a fresh oppor-
           for some time, but research reaffirms that     tunity to reexamine their store layouts and
           the pandemic increased customers’ adop-        point-of-sale systems to better accommo-
           tion of the payment method. One survey         date customers who have disabilities. Doing
           found that consumers’ use of installment       so is crucial to serving a sizable share of
           payment plans grew by almost 50 percent        consumers, as roughly 61 million Americans
           between July 2020 and March 2021, and it       live with a disability. Reexamining various

12    © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved
News & Trends

facets of the in-store customer experience,      they begin returning to stores and continue
such as display heights, accessibility func-     to make more purchases online.
tions on digital displays and whether there is
a need for features to assist those with vi-
sual or hearing impairments, will go a long      BNPL growth worldwide
way toward making stores safer, healthier
                                                 BNPL usage expected to grow 81 percent
and more convenient for all customers.           this year, largely driven by younger
                                                 consumers
Merchants must also take care to foster
more accessible online retail experiences,       BNPL solutions are becoming more popular
especially as many consumers plan to main-       among all consumers, but research shows
tain the digital shopping habits they have       that much of this growth is still coming from
picked up over the past 16 months. Some of       younger consumers. A recent survey found
the biggest digital accessibility issues that    that 45.1 million U.S. consumers are expect-
mobility-impaired customers face involve         ed to use installment payment options this
the navigability of merchants’ websites and      year, representing a year-over-year increase
their ease of use. Retailers that manage to      of 81 percent. This would account for more
implement the necessary accessibility in-        than one-fifth of digital buyers in the U.S.,
novations across multiple channels will be       and this portion is expected to swell to more
better positioned to serve all consumers as      than one-third of all digital buyers by 2025.

                                                                        © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved   13
News & Trends

           The report noted that millennials and              Markets differ in their adoption of in-
           Generation Z consumers were particularly           stallment payment plans, but usage is up
           prolific adopters of BNPL plans. The former        almost universally. BNPL is currently the
           group accounts for 43 percent of all install-      fastest-growing digital payment method in
           ment payment plan users, for example, while        Australia, Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom
           the latter represents 30 percent. This cor-        and the U.S., and a report forecasts the
           responds with recent research suggesting           adoption of such solutions to expand at a
           that younger consumers are fond of BNPL            compound annual growth rate of 28 percent
           solutions because they can help consum-            globally over the next five years. It also not-
           ers avoid the high fees and debts associated       ed that the Europe, Middle East and Africa
           with typical credit cards.                         region is currently in the lead for adoption,
                                                              representing 5.8 percent of total eCom-
           BNPL use anticipated to outpace
           eCommerce growth worldwide over next               merce purchases.
           several years
           It is difficult to overstate the significance of
           BNPL solutions’ global growth in recent years.
                                                              New use cases and
           A new report has found that the payment            developments
           method’s transaction value skyrocketed 292
                                                              Afterpay announces BNPL service for
           percent from 2018 to 2020. Some install-
                                                              Amazon, Nike, Nordstrom and other
           ment payment plan providers experienced            retailers
           new sales highs during that time. Afterpay         BNPL solution provider Afterpay recent-
           saw its sales double from 2019 to reach $11.1      ly announced that several top global retail
           billion last year, for example. The firm also      brands have adopted its installment pay-
           experienced a 77 percent increase in mer-          ment solution. The company announced
           chant adoption during the same time frame.         that brands including Amazon, CVS, Nike,
                                                              Nordstrom, Sephora and Target will now al-
                                                              low customers to make purchases using its
                                                              BNPL offering. Afterpay said those using its
                                                              app would also be able to select and make
                                                              purchases from brands or retailers listed on
                                                              the Afterpay shop directory.
                                                              The move is a further testament to BNPL
                                                              solutions’ explosive growth in the eCom-
                                                              merce sector. Afterpay said that merchants
                                                              now accepting its solution accounted for
                                                              nearly half of the total eCommerce volume
                                                              in the U.S. It also stated that eCommerce
                                                              growth in the American market essential-
                                                              ly increased threefold in the first three
                                                              months of 2021 compared to the same pe-
                                                              riod last year.

14    © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved
News & Trends

New BNPL offering geared toward
Americans purchasing airline tickets
American consumers are beginning to re-
turn to some of the leisure activities they
put on hold during the pandemic as vacci-
nations continue and restrictions steadily
ease across much of the United States. A
fair share are looking to travel after spend-
ing the past 16 months cooped up at home,
and some financial services providers are
rolling out BNPL solutions geared toward
travelers. American Express is allowing U.S.
cardholders who purchase flights costing
more than $100 to split them up into sever-
al installments, for example. The company
said its latest move comes after it found
that more than one-third of Americans are
keeping an eye out for flexible payment op-
tions — including BNPL solutions — to pay
for their trips.

More travelers from Asia-Pacific tapping
BNPL solutions to pay for trips
Installment payment plans are also picking
up steam in one of the world’s largest un-
tapped consumer finance markets: the
Asia-Pacific region. Recent data shows that
21 percent of travelers from the region used
BNPL payment options to pay for their trips
last year, with those from China making up
44 percent of that total. Southeast Asia in
particular represents a huge potential mar-
ket for installment payment plans. Roughly
438 million potential consumers in the re-
gion do not have access to traditional credit,
even though 40 million new consumers
began shopping or banking online just last
year. This means that there are numerous
opportunities for BNPL providers to enter a
burgeoning market with solutions that allow
customers to avoid the frictions that typi-
cally come with credit access.

                                                 © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved   15
DEEP
Deep Dive

                                                               DIVE
 How Online Marketplaces,
 Big-Ticket Sales Are Driving
 BNPL’s Business Impacts

            Relatively new flexible payment plans such       their customers had come to expect BNPL
            as BNPL options have gained traction over        offerings during the past 15 months, yet
            the past year as struggling consumers have       BNPL came in third on their list of the most
            sought ways to better manage their finan-        impactful trends in business — nearly tied
            cial lives. The method has been hailed for       for second with customers’ expectations for
            how it appeals to younger shoppers who           more digital capabilities within their stores.
            may be debt-wary or lack credit access,          PYMNTS interviewed 304 business owners,
            and PYMNTS’ research from late last year         founders and solo entrepreneurs in May and
            revealed that consumers who use BNPL typ-        June of this year about the latest trends in
            ically make greater numbers of and higher        their businesses. The following Deep Dive
            value purchases than those who pay in other      analyzes the results with respect to cur-
            ways. BNPL’s growing popularity for in-store     rent BNPL demand and explores the factors
            as well as online shopping also bodes well       that appear to be driving that demand and
            for its continued adoption as the econo-         boosting the method’s influence.
            my reopens.
                                                             BNPL services’ big impact
            One of the most intriguing takeaways
            from PYMNTS’ latest research on business         Merchants’ opinions on customers’ demand
            trends also comes from the BNPL space.           for BNPL services seem mixed, as 38 per-
            Businesses believe that BNPL demand is still     cent of business owners say that their
            limited, but the method is nevertheless hav-     customers were more likely to want these
            ing a big impact on their decisions. Less than   services over the past 16 months and an al-
            one-quarter of surveyed businesses felt that     most equal share — 36 percent — disagreed
                                                             with that statement. Twenty-four percent

16    © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved
Deep Dive

neither agreed nor disagreed. This clashes       FIGURE 1:
with recent data highlighting BNPL solutions’    Capabilities consumers expected over the last 16
growing popularity worldwide, however,           months
suggesting the presence of a gap between
                                                         Contactless payment acceptance
merchants’ perceptions of consumers’ ea-
                                                 42.8%   00000000

gerness for installment payment plans
compared to their actual heightening desire              Product descriptions
for these payment options. About one-third       32.4%   00000000

of the merchants that believed BNPL was
                                                         Accepting digital wallets
important to customers — 10 percent of the
                                                 32.4%   00000000

total sample — ranked BNPL as the most
impactful new trends in businesses, while                Online ordering with in-store pickup
another third placed it second. BNPL ranked      31.0%   00000000

third as the trend packing the biggest punch
                                                         Mobile apps
in commerce across all businesses surveyed.
                                                 30.3%   00000000

Its footprint may be limited, but BNPL ap-
pears to be making quite an impression on                Loyalty programs
the businesses using it.                         29.7%   00000000

Demand for BNPL varied by sales channel                  Customized offers and discounts based
and was strongest for online marketplac-                 on purchase histories
es and aggregators (53 percent), followed by     29.0%   00000000

merchant websites (45 percent), phone pur-
                                                         Saving customer payment credentials
chases (43 percent) and in-person purchases      28.3%   00000000

(38 percent). These results are consistent
with BNPL’s digital-native roots, yet its po-            Online ordering with delivery to
tential as a contactless method for in-store             customers’ homes
                                                 27.6%   00000000

purchases also positions it as a prime choice
for adoption by the majority of shoppers who             Online ordering with curbside pickup
pivoted online this past year and are now re-    26.9%   00000000

turning to the physical retail world. In-store
adoption has been on the rise, with BNPL                 Installment credit payment options
                                                 24.1%   00000000
provider Afterpay reporting that nearly 4.5
million consumers have set up the Afterpay               Product reviews and recommendations
Card to shop in person since the solution        22.8%   00000000

went live in the fall of 2020. Another inter-
esting development: Brick-and-mortar usage               Product ratings
                                                 19.3%   00000000
has been found to increase BNPL use across
digital channels. Customers’ growing affinity            Online ordering and same-day delivery
for touchless methods since the pandemic                 with an aggregator
began is predicted to last, so this trend is     18.6%   00000000

likely to remain a driver of demand for BNPL
                                                         Other
use over time.                                    1.4%   0000

                                                                                                   Source: PYMNTS.com

                                                                           © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved        17
Deep Dive

            The products consumers are buyin6 with           FIGURE 2:
            BNPL support the idea that a strong selling      The most impactful trend for business over the
            point for the method is making purchas-          last 16 months
            es affordable. The product categories that
                                                                     A greater share of customers are members
            registered the highest installment demand                of the local community
            were sporting goods (86 percent), automo-        41.3%   00000000

            bile parts (67 percent), musical instruments
            (67 percent), health and beauty products (67             Customers expect more digital capabilities
                                                                     while in store
            percent), clothing and accessories (58 per-
                                                             27.7%   00000000

            cent) and building supplies (50 percent).
            Construction or contracting was the leading              Customers are more likely to want to use
            sector for installment credit sales (55 per-             installment credit
                                                             26.5%   00000000
            cent), followed by insurance brokerages (50
            percent), professional services (37 percent)             Customers are more likely to buy online
            and retail trade (35 percent). These find-       25.9%   00000000

            ings harmonize with trends PYMNTS noted
            in February, when consumers were turning                 Customers’ average age has decreased
                                                             25.3%   00000000
            to BNPL to finance higher-priced purchases,
            such as electronics and appliances, as they              Customers are more interested in customized
            outfitted their home environments while                  offers based on their purchase histories
            hunkering down. These latest results may         10.7%   00000000

            also signal that BNPL has ample potential
                                                                     Customers are more likely to use touchless
            current and future use in the leisure, travel            payment options when they pay in store
            and outdoor activities arena as physical ac-      8.6%   00000000

            tivities regain primacy, suggesting that there
            will be continued growth in demand as well.              Customers are increasingly interested in
                                                                     loyalty programs
            The pandemic placed installment payment           7.5%   00000000

            options on a powerful positive trajectory,
            with digital, contactless and economic ben-              Customers are more interested in using
                                                                     mobile apps
            efits for consumers all appearing to have         7.1%   00000000

            left a lasting impression on businesses as                                                Source: PYMNTS.com

            well. Time will tell whether this mark is per-
            manent, but BNPL’s ascent seems poised
            to continue.

18    © 2021 PYMNTS.com All Rights Reserved
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