In the check-out line of your local grocery store, there’s a nearly one-in-three chance someone there has used an app like Klarna or Affirm to finance their purchase of produce, milk, and eggs at some point. Their use of buy now, pay later could mean your groceries are about to cost more, economists have found.
A study from the Washington University in St. Louis, which will be published in the next issue of the Management Science journal, found that as more consumers turn to buy now, pay later to purchase their necessities, retailers may actually increase prices and slash inventory as a result.
