Buy Now, No Interest Later
With the increasing popularity of Point Of Sale (POS) Lenders we investigated how providers like Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna are faring vs. traditional retail store cards*.
We’ve focused on the number of transactions (i.e. usage) where POS Lenders have quintupled their share since January 2019, and are now caught up with store card usage as of February 2021.
Given the competitive market among POS Lenders, we included a breakout of market share among the main players. Leader Afterpay today commands around 30% of share, gaining against once dominant Affirm who now holds 20%, on par with newcomer Paypal’s Pay in 4 in early 2021. Klarna is inching up with share in the high teens, while Sezzle, QuadPay, and Paypal Credit each have a few points of share. Low credit score specialist Snap Finance is all but out of the running with <1% share in early 2021.
While Department Stores have been reluctant to adopt the zero interest Buy Now Pay Later trend, likely due to outsized profits generated by their Store Card programs, and with Macy’s and Neiman Marcus announcing POS Lender partnerships with Klarna and Affirm respectively, it will be interesting to see how much longer the others hold out.
*Retailers included in Store Card Use include: Amazon (AMZN), American Signature, Ann Taylor, Arhaus, Art Van, Ashley Furniture, At Home (HOME), Badcock Home Furniture, Barneys New York, Bed Bath &Beyond (BBBY), Belk, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK_A), Best Buy (BBY), BJ’s Wholesale (BJ), Bob’s DiscountFurniture, Cabi Clothing, Cato (CATO), Coldwater Creek, Conn’s Home Plus (CONN), CostcoWholesale (COST), Crate & Barrel, Dressbarn, eBay (EBAY), Empire Today, Ethan Allen, Evine(EVLV), Express (EXPR), Floor & Decor (FND), Full Beauty Brands, Havertys (HVT), hhgregg, IdleSleep, IKEA, J.C. Penney (JCPNQ), J.Crew (JCG), J.Jill (JILL), Jordan’s Furniture, Kohl’s (KSS), LivingSpaces, Lord & Taylor, Lowe’s (LOW), Lumber Liquidators, Macy’s (M), Maurices, Meijer, Menards, Nebraska Furniture, Neiman Marcus (NMG), Nordstrom (JWN), Pier 1 Imports (PIR), Qurate Retail: QXH(QRTEA), Raymour & Flanigan, RC Willey, Restoration Hardware (RH), Retailwinds (RTW), Rooms ToGo, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears (SHLD), Serta Simmons Bedding, Sleep Number (SNBR), Stage Stores(SSI), Stein Mart (SMRT), Steinhoff International (STHHF), Talbots (TLB), Target (TGT), TempurSealy International (TPX), The Bon-Ton Stores, The Gap (GPS), The Home Depot (HD), TheRoomPlace, The Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW), The Tile Shop (TTSH), TJX Companies (TJX), Venus.com, Walmart (WMT-All), Wayfair (W), Williams-Sonoma (WSM).
