22% of Consumers Use BNPL for Alcoholic Beverage Payments

As consumers look for ways to afford the alcoholic beverages they want, a share of buy now, pay later users are paying for their beer, wine and spirits in installments.

By the Numbers

The PYMNTS Intelligence study “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: What BNPL Needs to Win Wider Adoption” drew from a survey of more than 3,100 U.S. consumers to understand what features they expect from deferred payment plans and to look at their use of BNPL options.

The results revealed that 22% of BNPL users used the payment method to buy alcoholic beverages in the previous three months.

The Data in Context

As consumers’ budgets have come under pressure, their alcoholic beverage purchasing habits have changed. Beer, wine and spirits giant Constellation Brands has been seeing shoppers making smaller purchases, even as they buy alcoholic beverages more often.

“We’re seeing more trips, but somewhat less purchasing per trip than we used to see, which simply means people are being a little more careful about what they do, given the inflationary environment that exists,” Constellation Brands Chief Financial Officer Garth Hankinson told analysts on the company’s earnings call in October.

Meanwhile, Molson Coors shared last year that consumers were making changes to which products they were purchasing amid inflation.

“Beer has traditionally been very resilient during tough economic times,” CEO Gavin Hattersley told analysts on an earnings call last year. “Yet it is true that U.S. industry-wide beer volumes fell at a much higher rate in the fourth quarter [of 2022] than they had earlier in the year. Much of this has been attributed to most of the beer industry taking a second price increase in the calendar year.”

With the rise of BNPL in the alcoholic beverage industry, consumers now have more financial flexibility when it comes to buying their favorite drinks.