Due to pressure on their wallets, more and more American consumers choose to use "buy now, pay later (BNPL)" services when making online purchases. This is even more obvious during the biggest shopping season of the year - Thanksgiving. After “Black Friday” comes “Cyber ​​Monday”, one of the most popular shopping days of the year in the United States. According to data from Adobe Analytics,A record number of holiday shoppers are expected to use buy now, pay later services on Cyber ​​Monday.

"Black Friday" is the day after Thanksgiving. Online and offline retailers usually offer larger discounts to attract consumers to shop. Cyber ​​Monday refers to the first Monday after Thanksgiving. Black Friday discounts focus on offline, while Cyber ​​Monday focuses more on online.

According to the data company’s latest preliminary estimate, on Monday (November 27) Eastern Time,Online spending on Cyber ​​Monday is expected to reach a record $12.4 billion (equivalent to 88.6 billion yuan). The volume of transactions completed through "buy now, pay later" services (including options from companies such as Klarna and Affirm) was US$782 million, a nearly 19% increase from last year.

Data released by Adobe Analytics last Saturday showed that on Black Friday, U.S. shoppers spent a record $9.8 billion (approximately 69.5 billion yuan) online, an increase of 7.5% from last year.

After Adobe Analytics released this data,Shares of financial technology company Affirm rose nearly 12% on the day. The stock has more than tripled in 2023 and its market capitalization has exceeded $8 billion as the "buy now, pay later" service grew in popularity.


Rival Upstart Holdings rose 2.6% on Monday. Its shares have risen nearly 90% so far this year.

The widespread popularity of “buy now, pay later”

Over the past few years, the use of “buy now, pay later” services has become increasingly widespread. Mizuho Securities analyst Dan Dolev said the scale of "buy now, pay later" has become so big. ” Dolev also used three “really”s to describe its high popularity.

andUsage of the service is further driven by budget-conscious shoppers. This group of consumers is trying to avoid the extra fees and interest that come with purchasing via credit card, and the “buy now, pay later” service eliminates this concern.

Compared with credit cards, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) service can be applied for immediately when shopping and does not require a review period of several weeks. In terms of fees, BNPL has no annual fees, and interest is waived if you repay within a certain period of time.

A survey by Swedish payments company Klarna also found that nearly half of respondents were worried they would not be able to repay their holiday credit card bills in full.

Economists had still expected this year's holiday shopping season to be slower than in recent years as consumers are under financial stress and dealing with rising interest rates and persistent inflation.

Still, early signs from Monday's shopping suggest that while consumers' financial conditions have begun to deteriorate,Consumer spending appears to be holding steady.

Last week's "Black Friday" showed a similar situation. Klarna's survey found that U.S. consumers increased their orders by 29% on Black Friday, with some of the most popular items being personal electronics, televisions and kitchen appliances.