UK’s Buy-Now Pay-Later Market Booms Ahead of Crunch Year
- Market for splitting payments grew to $27 billion in 2024
- Regulation, competition and economic woes now threaten margins
The Klarna app on a smartphone.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
From Apple iPhones to Adidas shoes and Uber Eats takeaways, Britons are using buy-now, pay-later like never before to fund their lifestyles.
This model, allowing customers to spread out payments without interest or credit checks, has become the darling of retailers and is drawing a growing menagerie of fintech companies. That’s increasing the competition and risks squeezing industry margins, just as the government gets ready to regulate the sector.