Australia Leads Global BNPL Charge, Triples US Adoption Rate

As buy now, pay later (BNPL) options become more common around the world, the Land Down Under is leading the charge by a considerable margin.

By the Numbers

On Wednesday (June 26), PYMNTS Intelligence released this year’s edition of the “How the World Does Digital” report, which surveyed a whopping 67,000 consumers across 11 countries accounting for about half of the world’s gross domestic product about their digital engagement.

The results revealed that only a small fraction of consumers paid for their most recent eCommerce purchase using BNPL — roughly 1% in most countries surveyed. While only 0.9% of U.S. consumers reported having used BNPL to pay for their last online purchase, that share nearly triples to 2.5% for consumers in Australia. Indeed, adoption in Australia was considerably higher than in any other country with the next-greatest share being the Netherlands, at 2.1%.

The Data in Context

BNPL services Afterpay and Sezzle originated in Australia and gained significant traction early on. As such, many Australian consumers were introduced to BNPL earlier than those in the U.S., allowing more time for adoption and integration into everyday shopping habits.

Notably, Australia is cracking down. A Reuters report earlier this month noted that the country’s government has introduced a law that would mandate that BNPL firms to check the credit of users.

“If it looks and acts like credit, then it should be regulated as such,” Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones stated.

Overall, BNPL is on the rise. For instance, on Tuesday (June 25), Klarna shared that its paid subscription has reached 100,000 members in the United States .

“Our commitment to offering valuable and exclusive benefits to our subscribers remains strong as we continuously look to enhance their shopping experience while expanding our services beyond Buy Now, Pay Later,” Klarna CMO David Sandstrom said in a statement.