Last year the “Buy Now Pay Later”, that is, “buy now and pay after”, grew by 45 percent as a mode on e-commerce platforms. And this trend does not stop. Especially among the youngest consumers. But they must pay attention to the traps.
There is always time to pay, says an old adage. But never as in online trade has become topical and now he also has a theme song BNPL, acronym for Buy Now Pay Laterthat is, “buy now and pay later”. For the people of compulsive consumers but also for those less avid in shopping, both attentive to their budget, it is the right solution. Zapping is done on one of the numerous e-commerce platforms, the object of desire is identified, you order but the debt is welded later. The goal of the Buy Now Pay Later is to push purchases, admitting installments for any product, even the most cheap ones such as a perfume, a suit with a few tens of euros, a sweater. All in zero interest for the consumer. This payment formula in installments (at least three, in general) had a real explosion during Covid, but growth continued even after. According to the Innovative Payments – School of Management Observatory of the Polytechnic of Milan, the BNPL in 2024 increased by 45 percent on an annual basis and reached a cumulative total of 6.8 billion euros. In January 2025 the growth was 27.5 percent compared to the same month of 2024 (Experian credit report). An investigation by the Compass-Heylight Observatory, conducted on over 1,200 consumers, has revealed that the familiarity rate with this solution is 74 percent, while the number of users rose from 9 to 19 percent in a year.
The payment of payment is also confirmed as an important loyalty factor: For three out of four interviewees if a physical or online store offered the possibility of installing the payment, this would certainly be an incentive to return to buy. Indication that rises to 94 percent among those who have already used BNPL solutions. One of the most relevant aspects is that this installment payment mechanism becomes 60 percent of users a “facilitator” to access premium band products. 38 percent of those who have used the service also declare that, in the absence of the possibility of installing the payment, it would have renounced or postponed the purchase, while a further 18 percent would have opted for a purchase with a lower ticket. Only 44 percent would have confirmed shopping under the same conditions. The phenomenon is overcoming, as growth rates, the traditional transfers of digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. To the point that giants like Paypal, Visa, American Express and Citibank have launched their own BNPL options. Among the most active e-commerce apps in this form of payment are Klarna, Clearpay and the Italian Scalapay. And just Scalapay, in his report The State of Shopping 2025estimates that by 2030 “alternative” payment systems-including BNPL-will represent 82 percent of global transactions in e-commerce, marking the definitive overtaking on credit and debt cards.
Last year, the Scalapay community was formed 54 percent by women and 46 percent by men, with a clear prepadment of the consumers’ range with an age between 18 and 34 years old, therefore young and digital natives, while the average value of orders has reached its peak in the 35-44 years of age, with a medium-sized receipt higher than 135 euros and 482 euros in travel. Of course, there is no shortage of negative aspects such as the risk of over -indebtedness especially for the youngest, attracted by the ease of this tool that if not managed in the correct way exposes the danger of not being able to pay the installments. For this the Financial Times He talked directly of “traps for Millennials”, since the boys would be pushed to spend money they do not have and then indebted to honor the debt
The Codacons, the consumer defense association, emphasizes the risks. «It is a dangerous option. Unlike the purchases in installments, where the user is aware of the interests that are applied to it and the consequences of a non -payment, this mode does not allow consumers to adequately understand the type of contract that is being subscribed “says the Codacons spokesperson, Stefano Zerbi. And he explains: “The immediacy with which the operation is carried out and the absence of interest or supercosto for the dilution of payments in fact generates a psychological effect that pushes consumers to acquire with extreme ease without realizing the fulfillment to which we meet, precisely because of the absence of the correct perception of the obligation assumed. Not to mention that in case of delay in payments, commissions are applied that can reach 15 percent of the value of the order “. Precisely to regulate the sector, the European Union has introduced the new Consumer credit directive, which by next November the member countries will have to transpose, according to which the large e-commerce platforms will no longer be able to offer payment solutions with installments that go beyond 50 days. The Buy Now Pay Later will be equated in all respects to a credit activity, for which the operating subjects in the sector, other than the credit institutions, must verify the feasibility of the request for installment of the expenditure, also evaluating the credit merit of the applicant. A step forward towards the regulation of a new way of trade.
