May 2026
PYMNTS Data Book

The Financing Factor: How Pay Later Availability Changes Where Consumers Buy

Pay later options don’t influence every purchase equally, but they can change the outcome when shoppers are comparing merchants, providers or booking platforms. This report shows where BNPL and merchant-offered installments have the greatest power to win the sale, from the 64% of millennials influenced by installment plans when booking travel to the 55% of Gen Z consumers who say installments shape where they seek healthcare or dental care.

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    Consumer financing impacts each shopping decision differently. Its impact concentrates among younger consumers, active users of pay later options and higher-consideration purchases where shoppers are still comparing choices. That makes the story less about average demand and more about where financing has the power to change outcomes.

    Consumer Financing Choice

    Travel Pull

    Credit card installment plans have their strongest influence in travel. Among millennials, 64% say merchant-offered installment availability affects where they book, making travel one of the clearest examples of financing shaping merchant choice.

    Boomer Gap

    Older consumers are far less responsive to financing. Just 4.7% of baby boomers and seniors say installment availability influences their travel bookings, showing how sharply financing’s effect falls off by age.

    Grocery Split

    Financing has limited influence on grocery shopping overall, but it carries more weight among consumers already using fixed installments for everyday expenses. While 21% of consumers overall say installment availability influences their grocery purchases, the share rises to 40% among day-to-day installment users.

    Power Users

    Heavy BNPL users are the most responsive group in the report. Among consumers who use buy now, pay later for both routine and discretionary purchases, 87% say the payment method’s availability influences travel bookings and 86% say it shapes their purchases of event tickets and experiences.

    Care Shift

    Healthcare stands out as a meaningful financing category for Gen Z. More than half, 55%, say merchant-offered installments influence where they seek medical or dental care, and 49% say the same for BNPL.

    Methodology

    This Data Book is based on “Financing the Decision: How BNPL and Installments Reshape Merchant Choice,” part of the Pay Later Ecosystem series from PYMNTS Intelligence. The report is based on a survey of 2,763 U.S. consumers conducted from Feb. 10-March 2, 2026, and examines how BNPL and merchant-offered installment plans affect where a consumer shops across 10 purchase categories. The sample was balanced to match the U.S. adult population by age, gender, education and income.

    About

    PYMNTS

    PYMNTS Intelligence is a leading global data and analytics platform that uses proprietary data and methods to provide actionable insights on what’s now and what’s next in payments, commerce and the digital economy. Its team of data scientists includes leading economists, econometricians, survey experts, financial analysts and marketing scientists with deep experience in the application of data to the issues that define the future of the digital transformation of the global economy. This multi-lingual team has conducted original data collection and analysis in more than three dozen global markets for some of the world’s leading publicly traded and privately held firms.

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