‘Buy now pay later’ boom fuels consumer debt concerns as transactions soar
With the rise of mobile payments, it seems Klarna has fallen behind. The company’s decision to release a physical card in UK last month was outdated and symbolic for an age where our digital lives take over every day – especially when you consider they only work on smartphones!
The pastel pink and black cards enable customers to make their purchases — but delay paying for 30 days.
It is the latest development in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) phenomenon that has swept the UK, marketing itself as a healthier alternative to other unsecured types of lending but fuelling debt concerns as living costs soar.
Klarna, which has 90mn customers across 17 countries and was valued at $46bn in an investment round backed by Japan’s SoftBank last year, has led the UK boom in the past few years.
But the field has grown ever more crowded. Digital banks Monzo and Revolut are trialling BNPL features, while challenger bank Virgin Money launched its instalment service late last year. In December, Barclays and Amazon announced the release of a BNPL feature called Instalments for purchases of £100 or more.
The Financial Conduct Authority has estimated that £2.7bn was spent through BNPL transactions in 2020. Researchers said the market had reached more than double that — £5.7bn — last year.