Shoppers increasingly buying now, paying later

A potential sign that consumers might be feeling strapped as they move toward the holidays: Shoppers are expected to spend a record $18.5 billion through buy now, pay later financing this year, according to Adobe’s new forecast. That’s up more than 11% year over year.

Shoppers are now seeing buy now, pay later everywhere — especially online. Around three-quarters of this spending happens on a mobile device. It’s also used more when peoples’ wallets are strained, per Vivek Pandya, an analyst at Adobe.

“Especially as consumers have been managing inflation,” he said. “And right now, we’re seeing it really continue to move at a decent clip.”

Some shoppers may use this method as a budgeting tool. Sheridan Trent at payments and consulting firm TSG said this showed up in the firm’s most recent survey.

“The largest portion had said, ‘Well, I’m trying to kind of keep more money in my bank account so I can sort of better budget over a few months,'” she said.

Using Affirm or Klarna to do this is fine as long as consumers keep track of due dates, Sheridan added. What worries her is people are using these options for necessities.

“It’s a measurable increase in people using buy now, pay later to cover grocery purchases,” she said.

Trent said that she’ll be looking at whether they also do this for holiday meals.