In WFH mode, Tamil Nadu stocks up formal wear on Buy Now Pay Later scheme: Mswipe data

~Chennai, Coimbatore and Erode in Tamil Nadu using BNPL for purchasing formal and causal shirts and dhotis~

~ Mechanisation of kitchen in a work from home economy also being availed on EMI in Chennai and Coimbatore~

Chennai, February 04, 2021: The ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) trend, which has primarily been popular in purchase of smartphones, has made inroads in newer categories with the EMI economy finding relevance in products such as garments, musical instruments, mechanisation of kitchen to even hair treatment products in a stay at home, work from home scenario.

According to the findings, office goers in Southern part of the country, especially the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore and Erode in Tamil Nadu are using BNPL for purchasing formal and causal shirts and dhotis with an average transaction size of INR 9,700. This trend has seen a rapid adoption during the pandemic with people getting used to video conferencing while working from home. Musical instruments and mechanisation of kitchen are another popular categories availed on BNPL by the people of Chennai.

These insights have emerged during an assessment of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) transactions across different merchant categories of Mswipe, India’s leading end-to-end digital enabler of SMEs and the largest POS acquirer in the country. Mswipe offers BNPL  or checkout finance through its Brand EMI offerings to SMEs across Mobiles, Consumer Durables, Education, Health, Furniture, Wellness and Luxury segments.

While the southern part of the country is availing BNPL for the purchase of garments, the western part of the country is tuning up on BNPL for music. Musical Instruments especially Guitar and Piano, with an average transaction size of INR 40,000 are being purchased on BNPL in metro cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru using the instant checkout finance option offered on Mswipe POS Terminals.

Mechanisation of kitchen in a work from home economy is another category being availed on BNPL in Southern cities of Chennai and Coimbatore and western cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar in Punjab, Lucknow, Varanasi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Delhi, Noida in UP and Guwahati and Kolkata in Eastern India. These cities have seen growing dependence on BNPL with customers buying Chimney, Cooktops, Hobs, Built in Oven, Cooking Range among others. Mswipe saw an average ticket size of INR 20, 000 for these products purchased on BNPL.

Manish Patel, Founder and CEO, Mswipe said, “The insights reveal a fundamental shift in the behaviour of consumer both in terms of their lifestyle choices and their financing preferences. The growing EMI economy creates opportunities for small businesses that have not been using checkout finance as an incentive for their customers up until now. Mswipe’s Brand EMI empowers retailers to offer the freedom to choose payment terms, thereby giving a fulfilling shopping experience to their customers.”

Mswipe had launched Brand EMI late last year as a value added service which enables merchants to offer zero interest EMI financing from over 30 brands in less than 15 seconds. This drastically improves the checkout process, and reduces cart abandonment due to lack of suitable financing options, thereby helping small businesses drive sales.