La Banque Postale changes its strategy on BNPL

While La Banque Postale Consumer Finance was positioning itself on the promising BNPL market less than a year ago, the La Banque Postale group has finally done an about-face by abandoning its partner Alma to launch its solution with Pledg. A more commercially promising partner, in particular to position itself in e-commerce.

FACTS

• La Banque Postale has officially announced that it has chosen Pledg as its exclusive partner to develop its fractional payment offer.

• As a reminder, Pledg is a French player specialising in BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) credit. Particularly dynamic, the FinTech launched in 2016 provides its white label solution in 10 European countries (France, UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal).

• It supports more than 500 references in Europe (including Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Corsair, Odalys Vacances, and Puy du Fou). It is particularly active with e-tailers.

• Pledg will now provide its fractional payment solution to La Banque Postale as a white label.

• This change obviously also involves Ma French Bank, which offers its customers a payment solution in several instalments.

CHALLENGES

• A direct link with the e-commerce boom: This repositioning illustrates the importance of BNPL in the group's strategy. La Banque Postale has finally taken on the project of deploying the BNPL solution with Pledg in order to enhance the advantageous positioning of the whole group on the e-commerce market. Indeed, La Poste currently works with around 200,000 e-merchants, i.e. almost 100% of the French e-commerce market, via its parcel delivery activity.

• An upheaval for Alma: Alma is losing a major customer here, but this upheaval also reflects the strategy of the FinTech, which plans to develop its brand, beyond the white label, on the model of the sector's reference in Europe: Klarna. La Banque Postale is seeking to promote a white label BNPL service to maintain the commercial link with its customers.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The current battle between BNPL players is far from over. Indeed, the market is still attracting a lot of interest. According to a Harris Interactive survey for the Observatoire Cetelem (carried out in February 2022 among 1,037 people), 44% of French people and 66% of those under 35 years of age use multi-payment solutions to make their online purchases.

• However, 55% of French people believe that, rather than a regular solution, payment in instalments remains a one-off solution to deal with financial difficulties and unforeseen events. 41% of French people believe that the solution encourages them to spend more; 54% are even aware that BNPL can represent a danger as it does not allow them to really see the total amount of their bills and purchases.