The tie-up will bring the BNPL provider to a bevy of merchants’ checkout pages—whether they like it or not

Sezzle faces an uphill battle competing against larger players like Affirm and Klarna

We may have been a little too early with some of our predictions—rollouts for Paze and FedNow took longer than we expected

It opened up its ecosystem and seemingly gave up its grand financial services ambitions. But it’s still a major payments player.

From a slew of major partnerships to our forecasts for slower user growth, we look at the biggest BNPL trends of 2024—and what they mean for 2025.

This tie-up defies previous concerns about the viability of funding the BNPL industry

This will solidify Walmart’s role as a major payments player and can be a large revenue generator for the retailer

The tie-up can bring in a large new stream of payments volume for the BNPL player, boosting growth ahead of going public next year

Shoppers are more comfortable than ever using BNPL—and not just during the holidays. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) volume will hit $18.5 billion this holiday season, with Cyber Monday alone accounting for just shy of $1 billion in spend, per Adobe. That’s 27.6% more than BNPL holiday sales volume in 2022.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how folks viewed big ticket items over the Thanksgiving holiday shopping period, how in-store foot traffic shook out, and the impact of buy now, pay later (BNPL). Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Senior Analyst Zak Stambor and Analyst Rachel Wolff.

Consumer payment method choice will expand in 2025 as real-time “pay by bank,” iPhone NFC access, and digital credentials take center stage. And financial media networks will turn more payment providers into marketers.

Gen Zers are driving growth in both emerging and traditional payment methods as they embrace cards, BNPL, and digital wallets. Payment providers must now align their offerings with Gen Z’s preferences as the cohort’s spending power grows.

But the payment method’s volume grew slower than overall retail sales, suggesting providers need to do more to amp up growth

The company used its two-sided network to capitalize on the holiday weekend

The point-of-sale installment offering will face adoption hurdles given growing competition in the country

While it still faces hurdles, the company’s finances have improved markedly—setting it up for a strong IPO in 2025

This could further propel BNPL volume this holiday season as well as catapult merchants’ holiday volume.

They can help Google steal some market share from Apple as it opens up its NFC tech.

The BNPL provider has been prepping for this for years. Its profitability push and cost-cutting initiatives should set it up for a strong listing

The tech will make it easier for consumers to choose how they pay— boosting the card’s already strong growth