Buy now, pay later methods such as invoice and instalment purchases are becoming increasingly popular with retailers and customers alike. For customers, they mean more flexibility; for retailers, they usually mean higher shopping baskets and an increased conversion rate. They are also being used more and more at the point of sale. Online, they are already one of the most popular payment methods among Germans. So it's no surprise that they are used particularly often during the blockbuster week for retailers. We analysed the pay-later data of our retailers between November 22 and 29.
Black Friday" is a retail deadline that has spread from the U.S. to Germany. Traditionally, the Friday after Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas shopping season there with particularly large discounts and special promotions. This year, Black Friday fell on November 26, and many of our customers were also counting on special incentives. With success, as a look at the transactions of our merchants shows: The number of orders placed using pay-later methods increased by more than 260% compared to an average day from the first week of November. Invoice purchases benefited in particular, with orders increasing by more than 270% and sales by over 250%. But installment purchases also benefited, with orders up 170% and sales up 230%. In the meantime, however, Black Friday is not the only event. Since 2005, there has also been Cyber Monday, which at the time was a kind of response by online retailers to Black Friday. Traditionally, after the big Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday at midnight, many large stationary stores open their doors to ring in Black Friday. So online retailers responded with discount promotions on the following Monday. Meanwhile, many stores combine Black Friday and Cyber Monday and call Cyber Week, which this year started on November 22 and lasted until Cyber Monday, November 29.
This one paid off for our retailers*. They were able to record massive growth: Invoice purchases saw a more than 200% increase in orders and a 170% increase in sales. Installment purchases were also popular, with 170% more orders and three times the volume. Of particular interest: shopping carts paid for with installment purchases increased by 13%. This shows once again that installment purchases are particularly popular for higher-priced products.
A look at individual sectors also shows this. The pay later methods provide impressive boosts in segments such as furniture, sports and outdoor. Here, customers often wait for offers on particularly price-intensive purchases such as beds, wardrobes or sofas and like to strike during Cyber Week. This was also the case for our furniture customers, for whom purchase on account was particularly popular during this period:
Our sports and outdoor customers also show an affinity for the pay-later options. Outdoor customers in particular benefited, with an increase of almost 350% in orders placed on account. This could be due to the fact that sports and outdoor orders often include equipment and clothing. These are both product categories that people like to try out and try on at home first.
We also looked at the numbers after Cyber Monday and see: "Buy Now, Pay Later" order numbers were above the November average for the rest of the week as well. This shows: The Cyber Week promotions attracted customers to the store and the flexible payment methods then motivated them to order. Want to keep the momentum going and make every week Cyber Week? Then go for our "Buy Now, Pay Later" products - whether online or in-store.