Each holiday season brings a predictable surge in consumer spending, but the way shoppers finance that spending is changing rapidly. While credit cards once dominated online checkouts, the growing popularity of buy now, pay later (BNPL) arrangements is changing how households manage short-term expenses.
BNPL refers to a short-term payment plan that retailers offer to shoppers at the point of purchase. The most common model is “pay-in-four” — rather than paying the full amount up front, the shopper pays 25 per cent immediately and the remaining 75 per cent over three equal instalments, typically debited automatically every two weeks.
