Americans are increasingly finding alternative ways to satisfy their holiday wish lists as they continue to grapple with high prices and inflation.
In many cases, that means opting for flexible payment plans.
On Black Friday through Cyber Monday, buy now, pay later payments through companies such as Klarna, Zip, Zilch, Affirm and Afterpay jumped 85% compared with the week before, according to the most recent data from Adobe. Buy now, pay later revenue rose 88% for the same period.
The option to pay in installments “means a merry Christmas, but in the long run for many will hurt their credit,” said Marshall Lux, a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
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