BNPL shows a decline in usage in France

Specialist in Buy Now Pay Later in France, Floa, also subsidiary of BNP Paribas, just presented the latest results of its barometer realized with the leader of marketing data and Kantar analysis. This fourth edition sheds light on the evolution of payment practices in France and, more specifically, on the uses of BNPL's solutions. And the French market stands out by recording a decline in uses.

FACTS

• The fourth edition of the Floa - Kantar barometer on the evolution of payment usage in Europe was carried out among 4903 respondents between 8 and 23 January 2025. It sheds light on an unprecedented situation regarding the decline in the share of users of BNPL solutions in France.

• This share remains high, as it was set at 66% of the French in 2024, but this figure is down by 4 points from 2023.

• At the same time, the share of very frequent users of BNPL's solutions (who make more than eight purchases in split payments per year) in France declines sharply, and is even almost halved between 2023 and 2024. In 2023 it was 50% of BNPL users, compared to only 26% in 2024.

ISSUES

• A slight decrease : While usages stagnate and even decline somewhat in France, they remain important. In fact, the decline of very frequent users is actually to the benefit of simply regular users of this type of services (who make one to three purchases via a split payment service per year). They were 46% in 2024 compared to 27% in 2023.

• Reasoned Uses Kantar and Floa also highlight the fact that the French use 69% of the BNPL to make planned purchases, and 63% to deal with unforeseen events. In 60% of cases, the use of these services involves purchases below EUR 300.

PERSPECTIVE

• The current situation is definitely not the same for the BNPL, which is facing the tightening of its regulations. And this context of tension is international. In Europe, the new European Consumer Credit Directive (DCC2) is now interested in all mini-credits and split payment solutions. This regulation, adopted in 2023, is intended to be stricter and imposes on BNPL services the same rules as on consumer credit.

• These measures are aimed at strengthening consumer protection, while major names such as Klarna have also recently been mentioned. punished in Sweden, where the regulator Finansinspektionen (FI), responsible for the supervision and regulation of the financial system in Sweden, accused Klarna of failing to comply with the rules against money laundering and terrorist financing between 2021 and 2022.

• And in the United States, it's the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Agency for the Protection of Consumer Financial Interests in the United States, which specified in May 2024 a tightening of the legislation for the BNPL.

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