Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) installment payments allow customers to pay for purchases in a series of interest-free installments over a short period of time. This research provides novel insights into how customer adoption of BNPL installment payments impacts spending. The authors leverage customer-level transaction data before and after the introduction of a BNPL installment payment service at a large US retailer. A difference-in-difference analysis indicates that the adoption of BNPL installment payments is associated with (1) an increase in purchase incidence, and (2) larger purchase amounts. These effects are statistically and economically significant over time. Moreover, this increase in spending is greater for smaller (vs. larger) basket shoppers, and for shoppers who relied more heavily on credit (vs. debit) cards before adoption. Three pre-registered experiments show that BNPL installment (vs. lump sum) payments increase spending by reducing perceived financial constraints. Specifically, BNPL installments alleviate perceived financial constraints by reducing perceived costs and facilitating budget control. These findings highlight the substantive role of BNPL installment payments in shaping purchase behavior and provide important implications for the management of BNPL payment schemes.

中文翻译：

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EXPRESS：先买后付：分期付款对客户购买的影响


先买后付 (BNPL) 分期付款允许客户在短时间内以一系列无息分期付款方式支付购买费用。这项研究提供了关于客户采用 BNPL 分期付款如何影响支出的新颖见解。作者利用美国一家大型零售商推出 BNPL 分期付款服务前后的客户级交易数据。双重差分分析表明，采用 BNPL 分期付款与 (1) 购买频率增加和 (2) 购买金额增加有关。随着时间的推移，这些影响在统计和经济上都具有显着意义。此外，对于较小（相对于较大）购物篮的购物者以及在采用信用卡（相对于借记卡）之前更依赖信用卡（相对于借记卡）的购物者来说，支出的增长幅度更大。三个预先注册的实验表明，BNPL 分期付款（相对于一次性付款）通过减少感知的财务约束来增加支出。具体来说，BNPL 分期付款通过降低感知成本和促进预算控制来缓解感知的财务约束。这些发现凸显了 BNPL 分期付款在塑造购买行为方面的实质性作用，并为 BNPL 支付计划的管理提供了重要启示。