Buy-Now-Pay-Later could account for 10% of all UK eCommerce by 2024

Using a ‘buy-now-pay-later’ (BNPL) service is the fastest-growing payment method in the UK for a second year running, research from Worldpay found.

Currently, that equates to around £9.6bn in annual spending but, according to research in Worldpay’s Global Payments Report, that will balloon to £26.4bn by 2024, a whopping 10 per cent of all eCommerce payments in the UK.

“This research shows the speed and scale of the transformation in consumer attitudes we have seen over the last 12 months,” said Pete Wickes, Worldpay’s general manager for EMEA.

“We predict that the BNPL sector will not slow down – with the UK market seeing double-digit expansion over the next few years,” he added, pointing to BNPL usage currently growing at 29 per cent year-on-year.

“As this happens, it’s important that the frameworks that govern and protect consumers and merchants also adapt to ensure that there continues to be trust and reliability in payments technology.”

These “frameworks” are clearly front of mind in the BNPL industry at the moment, as the Government recently announced the services would be brought under the supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority given the potential for consumer harm.

Providers like Klarna,Zilch,Laybuy and Clearpay are all due to be impacted by these changes once they’re introduced.

Overall Worldpay’s data, which was collated from a survey of 46,000 consumers around the world and various B2B surveys, found that the UK’s overall eCommerce market is due to grow to £264bn by 2024, a jump of 37 per cent.

The figures suggest that the UK will remain the third-largest market for online transactions at least until 2024, behind China and the US but ahead of Japan, France and Germany.