Black Friday 2023: Buy Now, Pay Later Usage Soars as Shoppers Opt for Affordable Deals
In 2023, Black Friday shoppers increasingly relied on buy-now-pay-later plans to stretch budgets, favoring budget-friendly purchases over expensive gifts, according to early retail data.
Diccon Hyatt is a seasoned financial and economic journalist with extensive experience covering the pandemic economy through hundreds of detailed reports. He excels at translating complex financial concepts into clear language, highlighting their effects on personal finances and markets. His career includes work at U.S. 1, Community News Service, and the Middletown Transcript.
Key Insights
- Recent data reveals holiday shoppers are turning more to buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) options while prioritizing lower-priced goods instead of high-value products.
- Despite facing high interest rates and economic challenges, U.S. consumers have increased their holiday spending in 2023.
- BNPL services, offering interest-free installment payments, appear to support budget-conscious buyers amid soaring credit card interest rates.
Early Black Friday figures underscore how consumers are maximizing their spending power through bargain hunting and BNPL financing. According to Adobe’s data as of Monday, U.S. shoppers have spent $7.3 billion utilizing BNPL platforms such as Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay. The company forecasts a 17% rise in BNPL online holiday spending this year, reaching $17 billion.
Trends at retailers like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Academy Sports and Outdoors suggest shoppers are gravitating toward discounted apparel and value items rather than expensive merchandise.
"Consumers appear focused on affordable discounted apparel and value selections over higher-cost products," noted Robert F. Ohmes, a Bank of America Securities research analyst, following store visits on Black Friday.
This emerging data will clarify how U.S. consumer spending sustains economic momentum despite high consumer loan and credit card interest rates. BNPL options, enabling interest-free installment payments, may play an increasingly pivotal role.
A PYMNTS Intelligence survey of 2,691 U.S. consumers found that those using BNPL spent an average of $598 on Black Friday, compared to $452 by those who didn’t use deferred payment methods.
"This spending gap indicates that budget-conscious shoppers leverage BNPL tools to manage cash flow while maintaining higher purchase levels," explained Scott Murray, PYMNTS analytics lead, in a recent report.
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