Uplo, MENA’s homegrown online retail management company predicts that ecommerce payments via buy now, pay later (BNPL) will, for the first Black Friday in history, overtake the volume and value of payments made in cash.
According to Uplo data, cash-on-delivery typically makes up approximately 35% of purchases, with credit and debit cards holding the lion’s share of payments with 42%, while BNPL averages 23%.
However, given a surge of online integrations, growing familiarity of BNPL across the region, and Black Friday falling before pay-day for many employees, Uplo estimates that BNPL will overtake cash-on-delivery during one of the year’s biggest online retail events.
Uplo estimates that in the UAE the percentage of sales through BNPL will climb to 26% of purchases, cash will drop to 23% and credit/debit card usage will account for 51% of items bought.
Biggest payment method in Saudi Arabia?
In Saudi Arabia, the effects are even more pronounced, with BNPL becoming the biggest payment method on Black Friday. Uplo forecasts that 37% of sales will be by BNPL, ahead of credit/debit cards at 34% and cash-on-delivery at 29%.
Nicolas Bruylants, co-founder and CVO of Uplo said, “The trends are clear that BNPL is growing in importance and with Black Friday falling before people get paid this month, there’s a strong likelihood we’ll see a boom in BNPL usage. Black Friday 2023 looks set to be a record one for BNPL providers.”
Earlier this year, Uplo revealed that cash usage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region had halved in the last five years. At the time, it was anticipated that the BNPL payment method would continue to make inroads on cash. The latest estimates around this year’s biggest sales event further reflect this growing trend.
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