The news: Sezzle debuted a suite of payment and deal-hunting features, per a press release. Our take: Sezzle needs to find any kind of foothold in the BNPL space, as its market share is massively outstripped by competitors like Klarna and Affirm.

The news: Google Pay added Klarna to its in-app BNPL roster of Affirm, Zip, and Afterpay. Our take: Klarna’s late adoption of a physical card like Affirm’s Affirm Card in the US set the BNPL provider back in terms of capturing a wider user base and payment volume. Integrations like Google Pay and Apple Pay can help overcome that gap—though Affirm also has partnerships with both Google Pay and Apple Pay.

FMNs are a small but burgeoning part of commerce media, offering valuable first-party transaction data. Despite their promise, FMNs face scale limits due to data sensitivity and must find ways to shift audiences toward commerce-focused behaviors.

The news: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said AI-driven efficiencies will reduce the company’s headcount. “As we roll out more generative AI and agents …we will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy said in a letter to employees. “In the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.” Our take: Companies that pursue an AI-first mission by laying off employees risk lower team morale, a resistance to AI adoption among workers, and damaged consumer trust. Still, Amazon’s scale, deep pockets, and cloud infrastructure dominance may insulate it from backlash or major fallout.

The news: Klarna will offer unlimited 5G data, talk, and text for $40/month with coverage on AT&T’s network in the US, per a press release, with plans to expand this deal to the UK and Germany soon. Our take: Klarna’s ambitions to be a BNPL provider, a mobile phone service, a neobank, and most recently—according to CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski—“a digital financial assistant,” per CNBC, signals the company’s voracious appetite to be everything at once.

Grocery delivery intermediaries like DoorDash and Uber are gaining ground, offering new ways to reach high-intent shoppers. Meanwhile, retailers like Walmart and Amazon continue to lead with strong delivery infrastructure and valuable customer data.

The news: Klarna partnered with Nift, a gift platform, to offer “gift”-style rewards for customers’ BNPL purchases. Our take: Until they can close that gap, BNPL players will struggle to attract a meaningful share of shoppers. It’s one reason we forecast BNPL user growth will slow every year through 2029.

93% of business and tech leaders view it as a way to offer proactive support but caution that human empathy and oversight still matter.

The ease and novelty of BNPL loans can rapidly snowball into a crisis for already financially fragile consumers.

Partnerships and AI adoption powered the BNPL company’s lead over competitors.

Despite being a leader in AI use, the BNPL provider said leaning on AI for customer service lowered support quality

The BNPL provider is racking up partners in a major expansion push before its now-delayed IPO

In-store payments provide a new growth avenue for BNPL providers facing slower industrywide volume growth

Most consumers aren’t using BNPL frequently enough to make it cost effective

Market instability as well as concerns over an economic slowdown as a result of President Trump’s tariffs are making the BNPL player pause its plans

This leaves the BNPL industry back at square one in terms of regulation, creating uncertainty for providers

The partnership will help Affirm compete with rival Klarna, which already has a large European presence

Tying up with DoorDash gives the BNPL provider a massive volume opportunity

The partnership will give the BNPL provider a boost and help it better compete against rival Affirm

The BNPL provider has made strong inroads in the US but faces steep obstacles in growing its market share