Dive Brief:

• As shoppers stretch their budgets for yearend holiday spending, a survey of 1,000 consumers by the customer service technology firm Bluedot found that four in 10 survey respondents plan to pay for their holiday purchases with buy now-pay later (BNPL) services.
• The survey found that almost half (48%) of Gen Z respondents said they planned to use BNPL services this holiday season, followed by millennials (47%), Gen X (40%) and baby boomers (14%). About a fifth (19%) said they are using BNPL services because they’re low on cash.
• Eighty percent of respondents said they plan to shop via retailer’s mobile apps this year at about the same rate, or more, than they did during the holiday season last year. More than half (55%) said they plan to use retailers’ mobile apps because they are easy to use, while 38% say they are looking for discounts. 

Dive Insight:

While buy now-pay later transactions were on the rise last year, it remains to be seen whether that trend will continue this holiday season.

BNPL surged last year, with Afterpay reporting a 34% jump in in-store and online installment payment orders between the 2020 and 2021 holiday seasons. But, of the Gen Z consumers who used BNPL platorms for their holiday purchases in 2021, 43% missed at least one installment payment that year, according to a Piplsay report.

The share of BNPL transactions in e-commerce revenue rose by 5% between January and September compared to last year, per a recent Adobe Analytics report. BNPL revenue saw a 27% bump in revenue during the 2021 holiday season, compared to 2020, and rose more than five-fold from 2019, the Adobe report from January said.

Though many consumers are using retailers’ mobile apps to shop for the holidays, Bluedot’s report notes that consumers are also turning to social media to buy gifts. More than a third of consumers said they were going to use retailers’ mobile apps to look for discounts (38%), search for items that they can’t find in stores (38%) and hunt for better prices (36%). The survey also noted that 56% of Gen Z consumers plan to buy their holiday goods via social media, followed by 49% of millennials and 43% of Gen X consumers.

“This year’s holiday shopping data signals a major opportunity for retailers not just to lure consumers to the store, but also boost long-term customer engagement,” Judy Chan, Bluedot’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

In addition to BNPL, Bluedot’s report echoes other research indicating that consumers are relying more on credit cards to stretch their budgets. A report from Beyond Finance found that 43% of consumers have more than $5,000 in credit card debt.

Meanwhile, 43% of respondents to Bluedot’s survey said they are more likely to open a store credit card. Among the perks they want in a store credit card are discounts, gift cards or loyalty points.