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As the increase in consumer spending in the first quarter of the year and the popularity of online shopping continues to expand across all age groups Retailers are confronted with increased opportunities and competition to the dollars of consumers. This means that they must find new ways to cater to the needs of consumers and allowing them to have more chances to buy from your brand or your site. The most effective place to start is to look at checkout processes, looking at ways to improve this important last step of selling, as well as provide the option of payment to customers, which will enhance their satisfaction.
One trend that has quickly become popular in online-based shopping is"Buy now and pay later "Buy Now and Pay Later" (BNPL) alternative when you are making your purchase. BNPL is a payment method that allows customers to divide the price of their purchase into affordable installments that are spread over time- in some situations, within a couple of weeks, or in some cases in the course of several months.
Pay later, buy now is gaining popularity
Many consumers are taking advantage of pay-over-time payment options when they become available. The year 2023 saw merchants online experienced an increase of purchases made with BNPL with the number of transactions growing 42.5 percent from the prior year. At the end of the day, BNPL added approximately $16.6 billion on book of merchants in the final couple of months alone which is a trend Adobe believes will continue to last through 2024.
About 93.3 million people are predicted to utilize BNPL in 2024 according to EMarketer and American Banker reported that the BNPL market in the US may reach more than $8.3 billion in 2028. BNPL is becoming increasingly accepted by major retailers on the internet, such as Amazon.com -- which will boost its expansion and will make it more sought-after by those who shop online.
This makes BNPL an option that merchants must consider when competing against the growing market for online products.
Offer buy now and pay in the future: things to be thinking about
The inclusion of BNPL options at checkout earlier rather than later gives merchants the chance to gain new customers and establish an ongoing relationship.
Merchants who don't have the BNPL option when you the checkout process, it could be the perfect time to introduce one into the alternatives. For merchants that do offer it, displaying the BNPL option more prominently on their websites, specifically at checkout, or advertising the availability of the choice through advertisements could help differentiate their brand and improve the experience of shopping for clients.
The more prominent the BNPL choice is displayed available on an online store's site and the faster they announce the services via email and social channels most likely that customers would be interested in learning more, which can help the retailer bring more customers to their website and seal the deal.
BNPL can help merchants expand the appeal of their business to consumers that want to purchase products today, but wish to manage the flow of money without credit. With the option of splitting the cost of buying by, say, four installments of interest-free installments every 2 weeks, customers will be able to get the items they require with no delay. Some BNPL services, including Affirm, also offer longer times that range from several months up to 3 years for carts that have large sizes and high-ticket items.
The thought of adding a new payment option on the back end of an online shop may seem daunting for smaller sellers who are already stretched for time. However, there are alternatives that can be quick and easy installation. They will make it easier for every step of the process for the merchant and seller. Merchants, for instance, can often profit from pre-built integrations for e-commerce, for instance the AffirmPayments extension that allows them to integrate the BNPL option to their current checkout page.
There is a benefit to offering purchase now and pay in the future the Woo store
What benefits can the BNPL integration provide? First, an integration streamlines buying process in order to cater for the ever-growing number of buyers who like to pay through time. Making sure that customers are on your website and moving towards checkout is vital, particularly in the case of younger customers who are accustomed to online commerce. In fact, The National Retail Federation reports that 50 percent (46 percent) of Gen Z respondents consider a easy checkout process vital to their purchasing experience.
A key aspect to think about when implementing the integration is the user experience for the shopper. It is essential that the buyer has the ability to see the payment options available to them and complete the approval process without needing to navigate to a different website. With an integration already built, companies make the process as direct and simple as they possibly can for the shopper, so the choice doesn't interfere with making a sale.
A seamless checkout experience can aid in decreasing abandonment of carts. A recent Baymard Institute metastudy of 49 research reports revealed that the cart abandonment rate remains at around 70 and hasn't shifted markedly over the past decade. The top reason to abandon carts: a checkout procedure that was long or complex (22 percent of the times) and also the site didn't offer sufficient choices for payment (responsible for 13 percentage of cart abandonments). With the highly-integrated BNPL system, merchants are able to address both these customer concerns at once.
Which is the best buy for today? Pay later or pay as you go
Selecting the BNPL provider that aligns with your requirements as a company and also with your customer's needs is essential in determining the best match. Affirm, for instance, Affirm provides custom payment options for businesses. These options could be long- or short-term options along with zero-interest payment options. Offering choices that match the preferences of buyers as well as standard prices Merchants can increase the affordability of shoppers and potentially win a sale against other competitors.
Another feature unique to Affirm is Affirm's Adaptive Checkout technology, which gives you the most pertinent ways to pay your customers in accordance with the price of the item and price of your cart. Personalization is the theme of the game online, Affirm is able to alter the length as well as the cost of each purchase, thereby providing an array of ways to pay over time to customers, with the same seamless transaction.
What do you plan to do to make sure your customers clients and prospective customers of the BNPL choice prior to checkout? Based on your market have in mind, you might want to consider promoting this offer via social media websites. Retail Dive states that 85% of consumers' purchasing purchases are influenced by social media. So advertising the potential of providing BNPL on these platforms can give you a competitive edge. If you're aiming at Gen Z be aware that 45% of respondents identified TikTok as well as Instagram as their top social media channels that influenced the purchase decisions of their peers.
Since summer is the slowest season for businesses There's a chance for retailers to focus on making BNPL working on their sites prior to the Back to School rush signals the beginning of the busy months leading up to the winter holiday. It gives you the opportunity to be mindful of vendors, resolve any issues regarding technology, and begin advertising efforts to announce the debut of BNPL as a new payment method that is used at the check-out.
The possibility of having an BNPL option during checkout, and publicizing it on social media could change the game for merchants looking to increase online sales and beat out the competition.
Are you willing to incorporate flexible payment options to your process of payment? Apply for Affirm as a first step and use the Affirm Extension for Payments to enable the possibility of paying-over-time during the time of your payment.
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*Payment options available through Affirm are subject to credit checks they may not be offered all over the world, and can only be offered through the lending partners listed in the following table: affirm.com/lenders.
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