Buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers, which allow shoppers to split the cost of goods into instalments with no interest as long as full repayment is made on time, have flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic. The market leader, Sweden’s Klarna, boasts around 90 million customers in 17 countries and, following its latest funding round, is valued at $45.6bn.
BNPL accounts for 23% of e-commerce transactions in Sweden and 19% in Germany, according to Worldpay’s 2021 Global Payments Report. The UK saw BNPL transaction value increase by 60–70% in 2020 to reach £6.4bn, according to consultancy Bain & Company.
