Buy-now-pay-later users expect to double spend

More than 90% of South African buy now pay later (BNPL) customers plan to spend more online this festive season than last year, while 78% plan to shop on Black Friday. This is according to a survey of more than 1,600 customers conducted this month by Payflex, South Africa’s largest BNPL provider.

“Our customer base has more than doubled since 2021 to over 450,000 customers so we are expecting Black Friday Payflex spend to more than double this year,” says Paul Behrmann, Payflex founder and CEO. “South Africans are becoming more comfortable with using BNPL as a budget tool, shunning expensive credit to pay for purchases in interest-free instalments instead.” 

Online sales continue to grow strongly with 92% of customers planning to shop only or mostly online on Black Friday.

SA retailers have capitalised on the Black Friday trend earlier this year, with many making deals available all month.  The survey revealed that almost half of customers surveyed (46%) have budgeted to spend up to R5,000 on holiday gifts this year, with 20% planning to spend between R5,000 and R10,000 on gifts. 

Around 28% of customers indicate that Black Friday offers deals that can’t be found at other times in the year, while 18% feel that Black Friday is a marketing trick – and the same deals (or better pricing) can be found at other times of the year. Fashion (29%), electronics (27%) and children’s products (11%) are the most popular spend categories.

Qualifying Payflex customers split the cost of their purchases into four equal instalments over six weeks, interest-free. Consumers can apply in seconds, and pay 25% of the purchase price upfront using any debit or credit card, and get their goods on the sme day. Payflex is available at more than 2,200 merchants, including 100 instore retailers.