Buy now, pay later services are retailers’ next great hope
‘BNPL’ started as a credit card killer, but what if it’s really an end run around the Facebook ad-industrial complex?
The fashion retailer Express, a mall-culture staple, is on a mission to transform itself for the digital era. It manages a flock of social-selling influencers and is using data to personalize the experience of browsing its hot-pink crop tops and sequined statement blazers. The finishing touch on this brand makeover? A partnership with the buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Klarna to cobrand digital ads and offer Klarna’s “Pay in 4” product—which splits shopping-spree expenditures into four interest-free biweekly payments at checkout. “We want to give customers with a certain perception of us an opportunity to change that perception,” says Brian Seewald, SVP of e-commerce at Express. “We’re taking the risk out of a purchase with BNPL,” he says, adding that Express customers who opt to use Klarna have a higher average-order value.