Buy now, pay later for businesses

Buy now, pay later is a flexible payment method that allows consumers to purchase immediately and pay over time while the business is paid in full upfront.

The volume of online payments made via Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) on Black Friday 2025 rose 43% compared to the previous month, underscoring consumers' preference for flexible financing during major spending events.

To cater to the diverse consumer demographics and shopping behaviors, BNPL payment options can generally be divided into two main categories:

Invoicing

The invoicing model allows a customer to check out without paying anything upfront, with the requirement to repay the full balance within 14 to 30 days. This zero-interest, post-pay method is particularly popular in European markets where shoppers prefer to inspect goods before final payment.

Installments

The installments model allows shoppers to spread the cost of their purchase over multiple bi-weekly or monthly payments. A small deposit is typically collected at the time of purchase, making it the preferred and most widespread BNPL method across North America.

When offering BNPL, businesses must also consider how repayment structures differ based on the underlying legal contracts.

• Credit loans vs. deferred payables: Repayments can be processed as either a direct consumer credit loan or as a deferred payable, where the merchant sells an "I owe you" (IOU) to the BNPL provider. This distinction can alter both customer repayment conditions and merchant contracting terms.

• Repayment periods: Providers define distinct timeline options, ranging from full payment at the end of the month to weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly installments.

• Late fees and interest: Providers enforce specific penalty structures, such as flat late fees, interest charges, or account suspension, if a customer misses an installment.

• Marketing requirements: Some providers mandate that merchants run co-branded advertisements, feature promotional banners on their homepage, or dedicate a portion of their marketing budget to promoting the option.

Navigating these detailed operating requirements is a vital part of implementing a successful and cost-effective BNPL strategy.

For businesses, buy now, pay later works by integrating a BNPL provider at checkout. 

The step by step process for accepting BNPL transaction usually goes like this:

1. Selection at checkout: The shopper selects their preferred BNPL option from the list of payment methods during checkout.

2. Instant evaluation: The BNPL provider conducts an immediate, soft credit check behind the scenes to verify the customer's eligibility in seconds.

3. Upfront settlement: Once approved, the transaction is finalized, and the provider pays the merchant the full purchase price upfront, minus a merchant service fee.

4. Flexible repayment: The customer repays the BNPL provider over time in interest-free installments or via a deferred invoice.

The BNPL payment flow ensures a smooth checkout experience for the shopper while protecting the merchant's cash flow.

Offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) gives customers greater flexibility at checkout while helping businesses increase sales and improve the customer experience. Key benefits include:

• Increase average order value: Give customers the flexibility to spread payments over time, making higher-value purchases more accessible and potentially increasing basket sizes.

• Reduce cart abandonment: Give hesitant shoppers more payment flexibility at checkout, helping remove cost-related barriers and turn more completed purchases.

• Drive revenue growth: Reach customers who prefer flexible payment options and create more opportunities to convert demand into sales.

• Encourage repeat purchases: Provide a convenient payment experience that can help build customer satisfaction and encourage customers to return.

• Reach new customer segments: Appeal to shoppers who actively prefer BNPL, including younger consumers who may be more likely to use flexible payment methods.

• Manage credit risk: Depending on the BNPL provider and model, businesses can offer flexible payment options without taking on the underlying customer credit risk.

Determining whether buy now, pay later is right for your business depends on your specific strategic goals.  

To evaluate if BNPL aligns with your business goals, you can compare your core business objectives with the actual performance outcomes of BNPL integration. 

Although BNPL transaction fees can be higher than standard card processing, the overall increase in average order value (AOV) and checkout conversion typically outweighs these additional costs.

* Note: While BNPL processing fees can be higher than standard card processing, the resulting boost in AOV and conversion rate generally outweighs the higher transaction cost. If you have the operational resources but want to be sure of the overall business impact, you can run a structured trial.

• Use a flexible payment platform: Partner with a payment processor that allows you to turn payment methods on and off instantly without rewriting code.

• A/B test your checkout: Implement BNPL for a subset of transactions or regions to directly measure customer adoption, average transaction value, and any potential cannibalization of lower-cost payment methods.

Testing payment methods in real-time ensures your business can make data-driven checkout decisions backed by concrete shopper behavior.

The most popular buy now, pay later solutions include global providers like Affirm, Afterpay, Atome, Klarna, and Zip, each catering to different regional markets and transaction values. 

Choosing the right partner depends heavily on your primary customer base, average order size, and regional goals.

To help you compare the primary solutions available in the global payments market, here is a breakdown of the leading BNPL networks:

Affirm

Affirm partners with thousands of retailers in the United States, offering highly flexible financing options across high-value retail categories like apparel, home goods, and electronics.

Afterpay and Clearpay

 Originally founded in Australia, Afterpay operates across Oceania and North America, and is known as Clearpay in Europe. It is highly valued for its interest-free consumer model and strong authorization rates.

Atome

Atome is a dominant BNPL player in Singapore and Malaysia, supporting both seamless digital checkouts and in-store point-of-sale transactions via dynamic QR codes.

Klarna

With over 140 million active global users, Klarna is one of the world's largest payment providers with exceptional brand recognition across Europe and North America.

Zip

Zip is a leading BNPL provider operating in Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Canada, offering interest-free shopping options across both physical and digital retail channels.

Global brands have successfully integrated BNPL to drive customer acquisition, increase order size, and streamline their global checkout operations. 

Here are some examples:

City Beach

Australian fashion retailer City Beach partnered with Adyen to consolidate fragmented payment systems into a single unified commerce platform. By leveraging Adyen, they easily introduced Buy Now, Pay Later options like Afterpay, improved fraud prevention through RevenueProtect with machine learning, and streamlined refund and chargeback management.

Kendra Scott

Fashion brand Kendra Scott modernized its payment ecosystem by replacing separate in-store and ecommerce systems with Adyen’s single platform. This migration provided real-time transaction insights, reduced PCI compliance workload by 70%, and enabled rapid deployment of alternative payment methods such as BNPL. 

ROLLER

Attractions software platform ROLLER launched ROLLER Payments using Adyen for Platforms to embed payments into their guest experience. The integration expanded available payment options to 38 local and global methods (including BNPL), boosted authorization rates from 87% to 94.5%, and reduced onboarding times for venues from months to weeks.

Offering BNPL with Adyen allows you to integrate, test, and scale multiple BNPL options globally through a single, unified payment platform. 

Instead of managing complex integrations, separate contracts, and disconnected settlements for every provider, Adyen handles the operational heavy lifting for you.

When you manage your payment strategy through Adyen's financial technology platform, your business gets access to several operational advantages:

• Single integration: Turn on or off popular BNPL options like Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Atome, and Zip with a simple toggle in your Adyen Customer Area without writing any new code.

• Unified reporting and reconciliation: View and analyze all transaction data in one centralized dashboard, and benefit from unified settlements across card payments and alternative payment methods.

• Advanced risk management: Leverage Adyen's built-in fraud prevention tools while the BNPL providers absorb the full risk of consumer defaults.

• Global scalability: Seamlessly offer local BNPL methods in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific to match regional shopping preferences.

Are you ready to optimize your checkout experience and accelerate your business growth? 

Contact our sales team today to discover how Adyen can help you implement a localized BNPL strategy.

• Diverse models: BNPL consists of invoicing (deferred 14–30 days, popular in Europe) and installments (split bi-weekly or monthly payments, popular in North America).

• Revenue acceleration: Offering BNPL directly boosts average transaction values and customer acquisition. It doesn’t necessarily lower transaction costs or raise authorization rates.

• No merchant credit risk: BNPL providers assume all credit and default risks, settling payments upfront with the merchant and handling customer collections.

• Agile testing: Unified payment platforms like Adyen allow merchants to easily test different BNPL methods to gauge consumer adoption before a full rollout.

• Global optimization: Leading brands like Lorna Jane, Superdry, and Richemont successfully utilize BNPL to eliminate checkout friction and increase conversions.