Women consumers, EdTech and Premium Products drove demand for Buy Now Pay Later in 2020

ZestMoney, India’s leading AI-driven EMI financing and “Buy Now Pay Later” (“Pay Later”) platform, today revealed the findings of its annual report which outlines how Indian customers opted for BNPL solutions in 2020. Despite the challenges arising due to the pandemic, the company served customers across 18,921 pin codes last year, demonstrating a strong demand for Buy Now Pay Later solutions among Indian customers.

Categories like Edtech, high end smartphones, large appliances, Electric vehicles, fashion, and travel were most sought after by customers.

ZestMoney observed a 20% growth in its women customer base last year. EdTech, online-electronics, fashion and travel ranked among the top categories that witnessed traction among women. It was also interesting that more women opted for Edtech while men preferred to splurge on fashion.

As per the report, women from Tier I cities opted for digital EMI solutions for financing their purchases in the following categories:

· Bengaluru: Online-Electronics & Fashion

· Mumbai: Education & Travel

· Delhi NCR: Fashion & Travel

· Hyderabad: Offline-Electronics & Personal Loans

· Pune: Fashion & Education

· Chennai: Education & Offline-Electronics

Pay Later offers shoppers the perfect flexibility to spread the cost which is sensible financial planning and helps them afford their dreams. It has been noticed that the average ticket size for BNPL is higher and it plays a crucial role in reviving consumer demand, especially for large ticket products.

Recognising that Buy Now Pay Later solutions offer greater convenience and flexibility especially while purchasing premium products, the category continued to witness great momentum in 2020. In fact, ZestMoney observed that the highest volume of premium products were purchased on Fridays. High end smartphones, laptops, large appliances, and fitness watches drove demand in the category.

Commenting on the trend, Lizzie Chapman, CEO and Co-Founder ZestMoney said, “2020 will be remembered as one of the most pivotal years in the adoption of Buy Now, Pay Later in India. We saw an increased trend of digitally savvy customers who prefer transparent financing options like BNPL over unfair and hidden fees associated with traditional products. The category is poised for massive growth this year as the consumer habit is here to stay. Consumers are clearly loving the all-digital experience for credit. We strongly feel India will emerge as the largest market for BNPL and will leapfrog credit cards entirely.”

“At Zest, we made significant inroads into the offline network by expanding our Buy Now, Pay Later product to 15,000 stores nationwide. We will ramp this up to 400,000 in 2021. We continue to be available on the checkout of the largest ecommerce websites and that drove adoption of BNPL as people took to online shopping in a big way. The pandemic has made customers even more focussed on financial affairs and they realise the benefit of managing cash flows by opting for Pay Later”, added Chapman.

The company said due to the demand for professional upskilling courses, the category witnessed the highest average ticket size for transactions (~50). Women transacted 3-4X more on Edtech than any other category.

According to ZestMoney, the average Indian consumer is 34-year old. The company said 68% of their customers are based outside Tier I cities hinting at the massive demand coming from tier II and III markets.

ZestMoney recently completed five years of operations, marking a crucial milestone in its journey. It has 6 million registered users on its platform.