Frictionless payments with Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

Find out how PayPal’s Pay Later offers can enable frictionless payments, giving consumers the quick and seamless shopping experience they prefer.

Frictionless payments are transforming the shopping experience for customers and businesses across the globe. By removing obstacles to checkout — and providing shoppers with their preferred payment methods — businesses can increase revenue and build customer trust.

After all, nothing puts the brakes on an otherwise enjoyable shopping experience like a checkout process that is overly time-consuming or complex. That can be especially true for shoppers who are looking to finance their purchase. These customers may get redirected to other sites or have to fill out long forms. It’s enough friction to start a campfire.

But now, retailers have an opportunity to create more frictionless payments experiences thanks to buy now, pay later options like PayPal Pay Later.

Frictionless integrated payments with BNPL

First, what is buy now, pay later? Also known as BNPL, buy now, pay later gives shoppers the opportunity to check out now and complete their payments in installments over time, such as weekly or monthly. Shoppers just have to look for BNPL options on their checkout page and sign up to get started.

With PayPal Pay Later offers, you can give customers all the benefits of buy now, pay later, but without the friction they may experience with traditional consumer financing options. With frictionless integrated payments, shoppers can typically check out in fewer steps, especially if they already have an account with PayPal.

Read on to learn more about the importance of frictionless payments, including benefits for shoppers and frictionless payments examples.

Why the future of payments is frictionless

It’s important to understand why the future of payments is frictionless for businesses and customers. With frictionless mobile payments, for instance, shoppers can enjoy a smoother checkout process right from their device and choose the payment method that’s most convenient for their needs.

Frictionless payment options include:

• Pay in 4: A short-term, interest-free installment offering that lets customers pay for purchases in 4 payments: 1 down payment at purchase and then every two weeks.¹

• Pay Monthly: A medium- to longer-term installment offer that enables customers to pay in 3, 6, 12, or 24 monthly installments.² You also have the option to offer 0% APR promotions to your customers for an additional cost.

With both options, customers can pay over time while businesses get paid up front.

A frictionless experience for shoppers

PayPal Pay Later offerings take the friction out of financing, optimizing the checkout process and giving shoppers benefits such as:

• Seamless credit decisions. As of Q3 2024, PayPal had 432 million active customer accounts globally.³ Since these shoppers already have an account with PayPal, the approval process is frictionless. New customers may require a soft credit check for Pay in 4 or Pay Monthly, a process that usually takes only a few seconds.

• A sense of security. Shoppers spend more with companies they trust, and 93% of business executives agree that building and maintaining trust improves the bottom line.⁴ PayPal is one of the most trusted brands in the payments category in the United States⁵ so when customers see our logo on a website, they feel confident about shopping there.

• Financing for every price point. PayPal Pay Later offerings let shoppers take advantage of financing options for nearly any order amount, with the choice of Pay in 4 for smaller purchases and Pay Monthly for larger purchases.

Retailers can add dynamic messaging on product pages right next to price points to highlight buy now, pay later options early in the buying journey, helping to encourage shoppers to complete checkout.