Usage of the flexible payment method hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday, driving $1.03 billion in online spend (up 4.2% YoY), as consumers looked for greater flexibility in managing their holiday budgets. The vast majority of BNPL transactions are happening on a mobile device as well, at 79.4% share on Cyber Monday (vs. desktop). In an Adobe survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers (conducted Nov. 2025), respondents said they were most likely to use BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture purchases.
Source: Adobe Analytics.
Key detail missing here - what is the interest rate on avg? I buy a bunch of stuff at BNPL because with 0% interest over 1 year it’s essentially at least 2-4% cheaper due to inflation.
This is a big one, so long as the payments are on time most BNPL actually end up saving you a small bit of money compared to buying it out right.
Even if a good credit card with good cash back and rewards. BNPL frequently ends up getting me a positive savings of 1-3%.
Of course we know the reason they can offer these deals is because people frequently don’t pay back properly or on time. Thus subsidizing the service for the rest of us. It’s not healthy or good overall.
But like with most things if you can take advantage of it and use it to your benefit, you should.
I think the bigger subsidy comes from the seller as they’d rather lose 3% and score a sale than not.
There’s also a lot of split into 4 payments as an option, which is helpful because credit cards freak out and cry fraud much more likely if a purchase is over 1-2k but are fine with under 500.