Edtech, Consumer Durables, Fashion most sought-after categories by Women

ZestMoney, India’s leading AI-driven EMI financing and “Buy Now Pay Later” (“Pay Later”) platform, today revealed the findings from a customer survey conducted to understand how women are adopting Pay Later/ EMI solutions for financing their purchases. The survey was conducted with a sample of 1600 respondents across key metros and Tier II/III cities in India.

The survey reveals that edtech courses, consumer durables and fashion emerged as the most sought-after categories among women consumers. In fact, ~46.5% respondents adopted BNPL solutions for the first time during the pandemic for managing their purchases.

Access to formal credit is a challenge for many first-time borrowers and credit penetration continues to remain low for a large section of customers, especially women who then rely on unorganised players for loans. 66% women respondents reaffirmed that BNPL helped them get access to credit which otherwise would have been difficult.

Commenting on the trend, Lizzie Chapman, CEO & Co-founder at ZestMoney said, “It’s heartening that a large number of women surveyed feel that BNPL helps them get access to a safe and transparent form of credit. We have always believed that contextual credit solutions play a very important role in democratising inclusive financing options. We saw a 20% uptick in women transacting on our platform last year, a trend we feel will play out strongly this year too.”

The survey also found that ~51% women prefer BNPL over credit cards for financing purchases, indicating that there is a large base of smart, digitally savvy customers wanting to avail new-age contextual credit solutions.

“Globally we are seeing a trend of women choosing BNPL over credit cards as they prefer the transparency and simplicity of pricing. In India, the trend is fast catching up as an increasing number of women choose BNPL for financial independence. Our own data shows that women are more likely to pay on time and make more repeat purchases than men. They are truly making the best of BNPL”, Lizzie added.

Examining the moratorium pattern, the survey analyses that ~62.1% women did not avail moratorium on their EMI payments last year. Interestingly, ZestMoney has observed that women in the age group of 18-35 have shown least inclination towards opting for moratorium and had the highest repayment rate. Customers in Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata saw higher moratorium opt-out compared to the national average.

Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai emerged as the top 3 metros with highest BNPL transactions by women customers. Demand in these cities was driven by Edtech courses, marketplaces, and in-store purchases. This trend poised to grow further, with ~62% respondents indicating that they would continue to opt for BNPL over the next 6-12 months for financing purchases of electronics, apparel/fashion accessories or educational courses.

According to the company, 45% women customers are in the age group 26-35, while 27% are below 25 years of age.

ZestMoney said 65% of their women customers are based outside Tier I cities signalling the rising demand from tier II and III markets. Among these cities, Lucknow, Vijayawada, Nagpur and Kochi have witnessed the highest BNPL transactions among women.