On today's episode, we discuss whether augmented reality is the future of marketing, how Clubhouse launching on Android can help the social audio platform grow its user base, how much the pandemic changed boomers' online behavior, whether "buy now, pay later" can move beyond retail, how to help people find something to watch on Netflix, how to swim up in the sky, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer analysts Nina Goetzen and Daniel Keyes, and principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Jeremy Goldman.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) services have emerged in recent years as more retailers, including Walmart and Macy’s, began offering consumers financing options when checking out.

On today's episode, we discuss how stores will likely shape-shift, what happens to curbside pickup going forward, and how "virtual" shopping experiences are about to get. We then talk about whether "buy now, pay later" is sticking around, Amazon's emerging national grocery chain, and how Walmart+ is doing six months after launch. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer director of forecasting Cindy Liu and analyst at Insider Intelligence Daniel Keyes.

Buy now, pay later solutions are quickly gaining adoption as consumers look for new financing options and merchants aim to drive sales. But the industry is still unsettled as a number of firms are battling to lead the space, while card networks and issuers are looking to get involved too.

The buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions provider counted 5.4 million active consumers and 11,500 merchants at the end of its fiscal Q3 2021 (ended March 31, 2021). Its consumer base grew 60% year-over-year (YoY), decelerating from the 92% YoY growth it posted in the comparable period last year, but its transactions per active customer grew 10% YoY, picking up from 5% YoY a year ago.

PayPal’s cryptocurrency business and buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution helped it pull off record performance in Q1. PayPal saw higher engagement thanks to its crypto service. On the company’s earnings call, CEO Dan Schulman noted that nearly half of all crypto users opened the PayPal app every day.

More of these tie-ups will spring up to allow issuers to better compete with BNPL providers’ buy buttons given their prominent placement on ecommerce sites. This may also trigger a wave of tie-ups with third-party players like Jifiti, which helps banks bring BNPL offerings to their merchant partners, and could ultimately enable issuers to create a network that counters digital BNPL upstarts’.

Growing adoption of “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) ecommerce payments should hit an inflection point in 2021 as consumer budgets get stretched and as availability expands. According to CivicScience’s “Trend Adoption Tracker,” BNPL adoption had been steadily rising prior to the pandemic—from 24% in Q1 2019 to 29% in Q4 2019.

Report: The Buy Now, Pay Later Report.

The Sweden-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech raised $1 billion, bringing its valuation to $31 billion, up from nearly $11 billion in September, Bloomberg reports. Klarna—which was already Europe’s most valuable fintech—had initially aimed to raise $500 million. The major fintech plans to use some of the funding to acquire a tech company.

Report: The Buy Now, Pay Later Report.

For the past several years, BNPL solutions have gained steam as a noncard way to finance large transactions. As unsecured personal loans, which include BNPL solutions, continue to rise, the sector has experienced vast growth of its own.

The Sweden-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech is piloting a bank account in Germany, with plans to roll out the offering more broadly in the coming months, TechCrunch reports. The account allows customers to receive money, set up direct deposit, and use an Apple Pay- and Google Pay-compatible debit card.

It can also help them counter the mounting threat from buy now, pay later (BNPL), which is thriving among younger consumers and other groups who perhaps have limited credit availability but still want a way to pay for purchases over time: 14% of consumers said they used a BNPL service because they couldn’t get credit card approval, according to Motley Fool.