BNPL Trends to Watch Out For

A trip to an e-commerce website or even the homepage of leading fintech apps will tell you that BNPL, short for Buy Now, Pay Later, has taken Filipino consumers by storm.

According to data from UnaCash as reported by Asian Banking & Finance, approximately 28.4 million people in the Philippines had used Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services by the end of 2024. This puts the Philippines second in BNPL usage as a share of its population, just behind Singapore, where 31.36% use BNPL services.

With popular BNPL services like SPayLater, Lazada PayLater, BillEase, and more becoming a part of Filipino shoppers’ daily lives, businesses need to stay on top of BNPL trends to remain competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers.

Below are some of the top BNPL trends Filipino businesses should watch out for.
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More BNPL tie-ups with e-wallets

Early BNPL services signed up customers via sign-up forms, QR codes, and/or debit cards. While these processes may have worked then, they’ve also created friction in the overall payment process. To solve this, foreign firms such as Apple Pay teamed up with Affirm and Klarna, while Google Wallet added support for Afterpay and Klarna, expanding on its existing partnerships with Affirm and Zip.

Locally, loans from the likes of BillEase are payable through GCash, Maya, and even other BNPL services like ShopeePay. 
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Increasing competition

Any company looking to enter the BNPL playing field will have to move quickly. Not only are they facing competition from local BNPL startups, but also international companies such as Atome and UnaPay that are bringing advanced technology and broad merchant networks. Additionally,  BNPL is drawing interest from traditional banks like BDO and UnionBank, which are developing their own BNPL-style services.

To stand out from the competition, new players will have to leverage a number of USPs like higher credit limits, longer terms, customer rewards, and e-commerce platform tie-ups.
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Security and trust as the next big focus

With a TransUnion report finding that 46% of Filipinos worried about scams when using credit products, security has become a top priority in the BNPL space. To address these concerns, providers are turning to AI-powered tools for fraud detection, identity verification, and real-time risk monitoring. As the market grows, strong security will be just as important as flexible payment terms.
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BNPL is here to stay

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Data from TransUnion shows that 70% of Filipinos are becoming more knowledgeable about credit, with growing interest in learning about and using credit products. Similarly, UnaCash predicts that BNPL usage in the country will increase by 28.39% by the end of 2025. The message is clear: BNP is here to stay.

As BNPL grows, convenient repayment options are essential. With eTap kiosks, users can easily pay off loans from providers like ShopeePay (SPayLater) using cash, no bank account or app required.

For businesses, hosting an eTap machine can drive increased foot traffic, especially as more Filipinos turn to BNPL. With BNPL here to stay, eTap offers a simple, accessible way to support on-time payments and tap into this fast-growing trend.

Article by Pancho Dizon
Graphic by Javi Acosta