[REVISION HISTORY]

BNPL growth, essential spending, and merchant risks

Updated 17 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-19 21:23 UTC → 2026-10-01 18:03 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) has shifted from a niche add‑on to an expected checkout option. Providers advance the full sale amount to merchants, charging higher per‑transaction fees, while early placement on product, category or cart pages lifts average order values and conversion rates. A July 2026 study found a 4.4% sales increase and that 81% of users spend more when financing is shown, with 43% abandoning carts when BNPL is unavailable. Retailers must adapt operations, reconciling settlements that differ from card payments, processing refunds through the BNPL provider, and training support staff on the new workflow. The rapid expansion is generating debt‑related pressures. In the United States, BNPL originated about $157 billion of consumer credit in 2025, up from $116 billion in 2024. Usage continues to broaden into everyday spending, including groceries, food delivery, and apparel. While Affirm has reported revenue lifts of up to 14% for certain merchants, the integration of overlapping installment plans can lead to a difficult-to-manage cycle of due dates, fees, and overdrafts. As cost-of-living pressures rise, BNPL is increasingly used for essential expenses. In the United States, a LendingTree survey indicates that 29% of BNPL users now use the service to purchase groceries, a significant increase from 14% two years ago, with 54% of users reporting they need these loans to “make ends meet.” This trend is expanding globally; in Italy, usage has grown from 4% of families in 2022 to approximately 30% today, according to Banca d'Italia. In Indonesia, the rise of BNPL has prompted companies like PT Indodana Multi Finance to implement integrated technology-based compliance frameworks to manage credit quality and protect users. Recent research from Federal Reserve economists indicates that U.S. consumer spending on BNPL plans exceeded $160 billion last year.

Versions

Only revisions since CLSTR began indexing content versions appear here. Select a version to see what changed compared to the one before it.