The most beautiful of all shopping worlds looks something like this: Consumers are overjoyed because they can shop to their heart's content without worrying about their current account balance.
The dealers are infinitely enthusiastic because the unbridled desire to buy fills their coffers.
And the companies that handle all payments between customers and merchants in the background go crazy because they collect huge chunks of fees for their service.
What sounds like paradisiacal conditions and bliss for everyone is part of reality.
The fact that this promising shopping world also harbors unpleasant risks for consumers is generally ignored.
Thomas Klemm
Editor in the "Money & More" section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
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In the corona pandemic, when shops and department stores were temporarily closed and people did more work from home with laptops or smartphones, online shopping was given a further boost. In doing so, consumers were able to find out that, beyond the almost infinite range of products, the internet is turning out to be a place of unlimited possibilities. This is due to an invention that, on closer inspection, looks well-known, but could entail serious changes again. The English magic word is “Buy now, pay later”, always abbreviated to BNPL by those in the know. The principle is very simple and is part of the name: buy now, pay later.