Buy Now, Pay Later Boosts Shoppers’ Online Options For The Holidays – By Natasha Zurnamer (IB Times) / Nov 17 2021
Pent-up global demand and supply chain issues at brick-and-mortar stores are adding up to a joyous holiday season for digital retailers, with online seasonal spending forecast to surge 11% from year-ago levels to a record $910 billion.
But with the easing of pandemic restrictions likely to tempt consumers back to real-world outlets in the months to come, online retailers will need to offer shoppers the smoothest possible journey from virtual shelves to virtual checkout to keep them online.
Thankfully, technology is there to help, with hot offerings such as live e-commerce and buy now, pay later financing attracting devoted followings.
Buy now, pay later — or BNPL, as it is known in the industry — is the 21st-century incarnation of the installment plan, an idea that shook up retail more than a century ago. By breaking payments up into manageable pieces, vendors put big-ticket items such as cars and sewing machines within the financial reach of middle- and lower-income families for the first time, and dramatically broadened the base of potential buyers.
The high-tech heir of the installment plan is having as pronounced an impact today, and across a much wider range of goods and services — from cosmetics to clothing and more.
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