US/GB: Which products are people willing to buy now - and pay for later?

The number of retailers offering “Buy Now, Pay Later” schemes has grown considerably in recent years – winning the attention of consumers, and the concern of regulators and media commentators in both the US and the UK.

As the payment method becomes available for everything from groceries to cars, we decided to ask American and British consumers which products and services they’d be willing to purchase using a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme.

Both consumer groups are most willing to BNPL for large electronic purchases. More than two in five Americans (46%) and Britons (44%) would be open to the idea of using these schemes to buy a refrigerator, washing machine, or other major appliance. Slightly fewer US (43%) and British (35%) consumers would be willing to use them to buy electronics such as laptops or smartphones. Both populations are roughly as likely to furnish their homes using a buy now, pay later scheme (US 34%; GB 32%), purchase a car (US 32%; GB 29%), pick up a new games console (US 16%: GB 14%), arrange a holiday (US 19%; GB 20%), or purchase cosmetics (US 8%; GB 7%).

There are major differences in areas such as healthcare. In the US, which does not have nationalised healthcare – and where GoFundMe campaigns for medical expenses are far from unheard of – three in ten members of the public (29%) say they’d use BNPL to pay for surgery, dental care, or other services compared to a fifth (18%) of Britons. In the US, people are also twice as likely to defer payments on groceries than their counterparts across the Atlantic (US 13%; GB 6%).

On the whole, Britons are less keen to buy now, pay later at all: while a quarter of Americans selected “none of the above” when asked which products and services they’d buy, nearly two in five Britons said the same (37%).

Finally, it’s worth noting that a proportion of consumers being theoretically willing to use BNPL is not the same thing as BNPL being a preferred option. An earlier survey we conducted revealed that just a quarter of Americans (25%) and Britons (27%) say this form of credit would be their favoured way to buy an item they could not afford outright.

Methodology

US:

YouGov polled 2,000 US adults on 4 February, 2022 between 15:12 and 23:36 GMT. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted by age, gender, education level, political affiliation, and ethnicity. Results are nationally representative of adults in the United States. Learn more about YouGov Direct.

Great Britain:

YouGov polled 2,000 British adults on 4 February, 2022 between 14:59 and 21:48 GMT. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted by age, gender, education level, region, and social grade. Results are nationally representative of adults in Great Britain. Learn more about YouGov Direct.