As consumers look to installment plans to help them afford the products they want under ongoing budgetary pressures, many are turning to buy now, pay later (BNPL) to acquire their go-to health and beauty products.
For the study “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: What BNPL Needs to Win Wider Adoption,” PYMNTS Intelligence surveyed more than 3,100 consumers in June to understand what features they expect from deferred payment plans and to learn how BNPL can meet these expectations and reach the use rates of credit card installment plans.
The results reveal that among BNPL users, roughly a third take advantage of the option to buy health and beauty products in installments.
The finding comes as consumers, feeling ongoing economic pressures, shift more of their spending toward consumable categories such as this one.
Walmart noted to investors in materials for its fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings report Tuesday (Feb. 20) that health and wellness sales were particularly strong in the period, growing by the mid-teens year over year in the United States. Moreover, the category was an overall driver of sales growth in the quarter, helping yield the company’s 4% comparable sales growth in the country.
Walmart is not the only retail giant seeing this trend. On an earnings call earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy observed that the eCommerce giant’s nonperishables business, which includes “consumables and canned goods and pet food and health and beauty products and pharmaceutical” is gaining ground “at a very healthy clip.”
With retailers like Walmart and Amazon reporting growth in health and wellness sales, BNPL has emerged as a tool for meeting consumer needs and driving continued expansion in the retail landscape.
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