Buy Now Pay Later can help retailers thrive in late 2025

Greg van der Riet, chief commercial officer at PayJustNow. Image supplied

“Discounting alone is not enough anymore. Consumers are stretched, but they have not stopped shopping. What is changing is how they shop, how they pay, and where they look for value. Retailers who adapt to that behaviour through alternative credit options and conversion-focused marketing will be best placed to grow,” says Greg van der Riet, chief commercial officer at PayJustNow.

South Africans are turning to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) in record numbers. PayJustNow, which now serves more than 2.6 million shoppers through over 3,000 directly integrated merchants, signed up 120,000 new customers in May 2025 alone, matching last year’s Black Friday volumes.

Repeat usage remains high, with 80% of customers returning and average basket sizes increasing by more than 30% when BNPL is offered.

“BNPL has become a conversion tool. We are seeing strong performance in categories like electronics, homeware, and fashion, especially when retailers highlight this payment option both online and in-store,” adds van der Riet.

Retailers offering only store cards are increasingly feeling the gap. As credit becomes harder to access, approval rates are falling, especially among younger shoppers. By contrast, third-party retail payment solutions with pre-qualified credit customers are creating immediate affordability without the friction of a lengthy application process.

“The sweet spot for fintech-led payment platforms is the ability to plug the financial access gap that banks and retailers don’t necessarily have the appetite or agility to fulfil”, says van der Riet.

“[At PayJustNow] Our robust, data-led affordability and financial behaviour checks allow us to now offer more consumers, who would otherwise be denied credit, an opportunity to use bite-sized retail credit for items they want and need, budgeting their purchases over a longer period than just three months” says van der Riet.

But the retail market is highly competitive and finding pre-qualified and larger-basket credit backed consumers doesn’t come cheap.

“Retailers are under pressure to justify ad spend, while traditional advertising channels aren’t getting that spend very far,” says van der Riet.

“Outbidding the likes of Shein and Temu in a search for high-intent consumers who are actively looking to spend is increasingly difficult,” he says.

By contrast, consumers that are looking to budget their bigger ticket purchases, are looking directly to their payment platforms instead of Google. “Our Deals and Store Directory generated over 24 million merchant referrals in 2023 and now attract more than three million clicks per month,” says van der Riet.

“In today’s economy, offering flexibility in how people pay has become essential. If you are serious about growth, you need to remove friction, unlock value for the shopper, and be visible where the purchase journey starts. That is how retailers win the second half of this year,” concludes van der Riet.