Name: 「先買後付」的吸金術：這筆「免息貸款」生意怎麼賺？ (How ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Makes Billions From ‘Free’ Loans | WSJ The Economics Of)
Uploaded: 2025-09-12T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 8 min 26 s

轉承詞

This burrito bowl dinner on DoorDash comes to $41, but thanks to Klarna, you can make four payments of $10.40 over the course of six weeks instead.

在 DoorDash 上購買這頓捲餅蓋飯的費用為 41 美元，但由於有了 Klarna，你可以在六週內分四次支付 10.40 美元。

The Buy Now, Pay Later industry, or BNPL, has exploded as an alternative to credit cards.

作為信用卡的替代品，"立即購買，稍後付款 "行業（BNPL）已呈爆炸式增長。

程度副詞

We really believe the credit card industry is going the way of the VHS tape.

我們真的相信，信用卡行業正在走 VHS 錄像帶的老路。

But will BNPL actually dethrone credit cards, or will they ultimately just be treated like credit cards?

但是，BNPL 是否真的會取代信用卡，還是最終只會被當作信用卡？

This is the economics of Buy Now, Pay Later.

這就是 "先買後付 "的經濟學原理。

Three companies make up the bulk of the BNPL market in the U.S., though two initially found success internationally.

三家公司佔據了美國 BNPL 市場的大部分份額，但有兩家公司最初在國際市場上取得了成功。

Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar launched the company in Australia in 2014 to entice more people to make purchases at his jewelry store.

Afterpay 聯合創始人尼克-莫爾納（Nick Molnar）於 2014 年在澳洲創辦了這家公司，目的是吸引更多的人到他的珠寶店購物。

We built it, we tested it, and it became a very significant portion of our sales really quickly.

我們建立了它，對它進行了測試，它很快就成為我們銷售額中非常重要的一部分。

All of the top providers offer the typical pay-in-four, zero-interest installment loan that has become synonymous with BNPL.

所有頂級供應商都提供典型的四期付款、零利率分期貸款，這已成為 BNPL 的代名詞。

Once the customer chooses the BNPL option at checkout, the provider approves the loan based on its underwriting model.

一旦客戶在結帳時選擇了 BNPL 選項，供應商就會根據其承保模式準許貸款。

We pay the retailer the next day, and then we take all of the non-payment risk.

我們在第二天付款給零售商，然後承擔所有不付款的風險。

Then the customer is put on a four-part repayment plan with no interest.

然後，客戶會被列入一個由四個部分組成的無息還款計劃。

If a payment is late, some providers charge a fee.

如果逾期付款，有些服務提供商會收取一定費用。

Providers also charge the merchants to make the loans available to their customers.

供應商還向商家收費，以便向客戶提供貸款。

Sometimes that's as much as, you know, 5% of the transaction value.

The lion's share of our income, 90-plus percent of our income, is made from the merchant, not the consumer.

我們收入的絕大部分，即 90% 以上，都來自商家，而不是消費者。

Some lenders, like Affirm, have also begun to offer longer-term loans that carry interest.

一些貸款機構，如 Affirm，也開始提供有利息的長期貸款。

About 20% of our business today is 0%, and about 80% has interest on them.

目前，我們約有 20% 的業務為 0%，約有 80% 的業務有利息。

Afterpay also has a pay-monthly option for larger ticket transactions.

對於大額交易，Afterpay 還提供按月付費的選擇。

Customers pay once a month for a longer period of time instead of every few weeks.

客戶每月支付一次，時間更長，而不是每隔幾周支付一次。

There's a simple interest attached to these loans.

We're not doing it on every checkout flow.

我們不會在每個結賬流程中都這樣做。

We're really doing it on a select few that we believe there's, you know, really strong demand for that particular checkout that's occurring, where paying for might not have the same amount of acceptance.

我們只在少數幾個我們認為需求非常旺盛的特定結賬項目中使用，而付費項目的接受度可能並不高。

Physical cards that can't be used in a brick-and-mortar store are the next big offering from lenders.

不能在實體店使用的實體卡是貸款機構的下一個重要產品。

That could more or less double the, you know, the potential market.

這樣一來，潛在市場或多或少會增加一倍。

Let's say you're walking into the store and you ask us to spend $500 on a jacket, then we approve the loan.

比方說，你走進商店，要求我們花 500 美元買一件夾克，然後我們準許貸款。

And then it's just sitting out there waiting for you to actually transact.

然後，它就在那裡等著你去交易。

And then at the checkout at the store, you chip your card, and then we pull that transaction that's waiting out there and attach it to the transaction and put a loan into your account.

然後，在商店結賬時，你將卡插入芯片，我們就會調出等候在那裡的交易，並將其附加到交易中，然後將貸款存入你的賬戶。

As the scope of buy-now-pay-later expanded, the industry's growth has exploded in the U.S.

隨著 "先買後付 "範圍的擴大，該行業在美國也出現了爆炸式增長。

Buy-now-pay-later transaction volume has multiplied 20 times since 2019.

自 2019 年以來，"先買後付 "交易量翻了 20 倍。

You have a clear macro trend around consumers choosing alternative ways to pay.

消費者選擇其他支付方式的宏觀趨勢非常明顯。

And that's led to growing competition for both customers and merchants.

這導致客戶和商家之間的競爭日益激烈。

In March, Klarna announced an exclusive deal with Walmart to provide loans to customers through the retailer's fintech arm, OnePay.

今年 3 月，Klarna 宣佈與沃爾瑪達成獨家協議，通過該零售商的金融技術部門 OnePay 向客戶提供貸款。

It's extremely important for the BNPL providers, particularly the specialist BNPL providers, to have those direct relationships with the merchants.

對於 BNPL 提供商，尤其是專業 BNPL 提供商來說，與商戶建立直接關係極為重要。

There's a lot of ground out there and a lot of transactions that there's currently nobody being offered.

外面有很多地方，很多交易目前還沒有人提供。

And so there's a lot more white space than there is fighting over existing merchants.

空白空間比爭奪現有商家的空間要大得多。

The types of merchants that have adopted BNPL have expanded, and that's changed what people buy with their loans.

採用 BNPL 的商家類型不斷擴大，這也改變了人們用貸款購買的商品。

BNPL definitely started with e-commerce retail, generally in that ticket size of $100 to $200.

BNPL 肯定是從電子商務零售起步的，一般都是 100 到 200 美元的票價。

As it broadened out, you saw even smaller ticket sizes and sometimes even consumable purchases.

隨著範圍的擴大，你會看到更小的門票尺寸，有時甚至是消耗品購買。

A LendingTree survey found that a quarter of BNPL customers have used them to buy groceries, up from 14% in 2024.

LendingTree 的一項調查發現，四分之一的 BNPL 客戶曾用它們來購買日用品，而 2024 年這一比例僅為 14%。

We don't think it's our job to judge what a consumer's choice is on the financial product that they want to use.

我們認為，判斷消費者對金融產品的選擇不是我們的工作。

Anytime a consumer is putting down their credit card and using a firm, we think it's a good thing.

只要消費者放下信用卡，使用公司的服務，我們就認為這是一件好事。

I think the BNPL provider's got to think about that, you know, as to whether is that an indicator that that specific consumer is experiencing more stress or not.

我認為，BNPL 提供商必須考慮到這一點，你知道，這是否是一個指標，表明特定的消費者正在經歷更多的壓力或沒有。

In January, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a study that said that more than two-thirds of BNPL loans went to borrowers with lower credit scores.

今年 1 月，美國消費者金融保護局發佈了一份研究報告，稱超過三分之二的 BNPL 貸款發放給了信用評分較低的借款人。

Buy now, pay later can make products look a lot more affordable than they actually are.

先買後付會讓產品看起來比實際價格實惠得多。

BNPL providers argue that most of their customers are creditworthy.

BNPL 提供商認為，他們的大多數客戶都是值得信賴的。

AFPA actually over-indexes in the middle and upper income bracket.

實際上，AFPA 在中高收入階層的指數過高。

You're seeing, like, really, really strong consumers using the product.

你會看到，有非常非常多的消費者在使用這款產品。

But experts say fast growth isn't just risky for consumers.

但專家表示，快速增長不僅會給消費者帶來風險。

Whenever you look at consumer credit, that next customer is always going to be a little more risky than the customers you've got on your books.

每當你考慮消費信貸時，下一個客戶總是會比你賬上的客戶風險更大一些。

And for some providers, consumer losses are growing.

而對一些供應商來說，消費者的損失正在增加。

In May, Klarna reported a 17% increase in consumer credit losses from the year before.

今年 5 月，Klarna 報告消費信貸損失比前一年增加了 17%。

Klarna said in a statement that the rise in losses was because it had issued significantly more loans in Q1 of 25, so it's natural for the dollar value of credit losses to rise.

Klarna 在一份聲明中說，損失上升是因為 25 年第一季度發放的貸款大幅增加，所以信貸損失的美元價值自然會上升。

The company added that in Q2, it reported a record share of transactions repaid on time or early.

該公司補充說，第二季度按時或提前償還的交易份額創下了歷史新高。

But broadly, LendingTree found that 41% of BNPL users paid late in the past year, up from 34% a year before.

但從總體上看，LendingTree 發現，41% 的 BNPL 用戶在過去一年中逾期付款，高於一年前的 34%。

Affirm has reported a decrease in customer defaults.

Affirm 報告稱，客戶違約率有所下降。

We're delivering really good credit outcomes with our approach, which is to underwrite every transaction and to make an honest assessment at the point of sale.

我們的做法是對每筆交易進行承保，並在銷售時做出誠實的評估，從而實現真正良好的信貸結果。

And Afterpay says it has seen strong repayment numbers, especially compared to credit cards.

Afterpay 表示，它的還款額很高，尤其是與信用卡相比。

We disable someone's account the moment they're late on one installment payment.

一旦有人逾期分期付款，我們就會停用其賬戶。

We're not issuing someone with a few thousand dollar line of credit over an extended period of time.

我們不會長期向某人發放幾千美元的信用額度。

But regulators and other experts have drawn similarities between BNPL and credit cards.

但監管機構和其他專家認為 BNPL 與信用卡有相似之處。

In 2024, the CFPB issued an interpretive rule that would subject BNPL providers to credit card regulations.

2024 年，CFPB 發佈了一項解釋性規則，規定 BNPL 提供商必須遵守信用卡法規。

But President Trump and Doge have since crippled the Consumer Protection Agency, which announced it would not prioritize enforcing that rule.

但此後，特朗普總統和杜格削弱了消費者保護局，該機構宣佈不會優先執行這一規定。

And that's really a concern to those of us who would like to see these technologies used effectively to give consumers more choices in digital finance.

這確實是我們這些希望看到這些技術得到有效利用，為消費者提供更多數字金融選擇的人所擔心的。

There's been shifts within the industry, too.

FICO announced in June that it would add Buy Now Pay Later loans to credit reports.

FICO 於 6 月宣佈將在信用報告中增加 "先買後付 "貸款。

That's after Affirm became the first major provider to share consumer data with credit bureaus and TransUnion.

在此之前，Affirm 已成為首家與徵信機構和全美徵信公司共享消費者數據的主要供應商。

But Klarna and Afterpay say they're withholding customer data until they're assured its customers won't be unfairly penalized.

但 Klarna 和 Afterpay 表示，在確保客戶不會受到不公平的懲罰之前，他們將保留客戶數據。

Klarna said in a statement that it welcomes FICO's ambition to modernize credit scoring to better reflect BNPL use.

Klarna 在一份聲明中說，它歡迎 FICO 將信用評分現代化，以更好地反映 BNPL 的使用情況。

It also said that it looks forward to a system where these products can contribute positively to consumers' credit standing.

它還表示，它期待著建立一個這些產品能夠對消費者的信用狀況做出積極貢獻的系統。

And Block, which owns Afterpay, said that the credit reporting scoring and interpretation still largely operate under legacy frameworks.

而擁有 Afterpay 的 Block 公司表示，信用報告的評分和解釋在很大程度上仍在傳統框架下運行。

So the company argues that there needs to be a separate framework for BNPL and credit cards.

該公司認為 BNPL 和信用卡需要有一個單獨的框架。

A regulatory framework that respects those components of the product and builds the framework around something that is very different to traditional forms of credit is one that we've been really hard at work on from the day we started the business.

一個尊重產品這些組成部分的監管框架，以及圍繞與傳統信貸形式截然不同的東西而建立的框架，是我們從創業之日起就一直努力工作的方向。

I don't think that BNPL will replace credit cards.

I think it's going to replace credit cards for certain people and may replace credit cards for many people for certain types of transactions.

我認為，對於某些人來說，它將取代信用卡，對於許多人來說，它可能取代信用卡進行某些類型的交易。

Even if BNPL providers would prefer credit cards disappeared.

即使 BNPL 提供商更希望信用卡消失。

Nothing would make our team happier than if we could see the death of revolving credit in the United States.

如果我們能看到循環信貸在美國消亡，我們的團隊將無比高興。

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「先買後付」的吸金術：這筆「免息貸款」生意怎麼賺？ (How ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Makes Billions From ‘Free’ Loans | WSJ The Economics Of)

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