Young people flock to buy now, pay later for daily essentials
What began as way to buy luxury shoes and concert tickets is becoming an ordinary tool that Gen Z and millennial shoppers use for contact lenses and trash bags.
Buying now and paying later is still a popular way to splurge on airfare to Cabo. It’s an increasingly common way to buy groceries and lawn furniture, too.
Consumers ages 35 and under comprise 53% of “buy now, pay later” users but just 35% of traditional credit card holders, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Many of those core “BNPL” borrowers have grown so comfortable using the installment loans for just-out-of-reach luxuries that they’re putting more everyday purchases on them as well.
Apparel and accessories were the most popular product category among millennial (ages 30-44) and Gen Z (18-29) users of the BNPL provider Afterpay in 2021 and 2022. But last year it fell to fourth place behind “arts, travel and entertainment,” “home and garden” and “hardware,” according to data the company provided to NBC News.
The shift adds to signs that fast-growing BNPL services, which let users break up transactions into several payments with little or no interest, are becoming a routine tool in young adults’ wallets as they adapt to higher prices.
Afterpay’s youngest users’ spending on many staples has surged by double and triple digits, with contact lenses soaring 465% from 2022 to 2023, garbage bags jumping 182% and first-aid antiseptics rising 98%. Their spending growth for lighter fluid, laptop parts and snoring and sleep apnea aids all surpassed 300%.
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