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Both Affirm and Klarna partnered with Apple to get their installments in Apple Pay. The firms also made deals with Google Pay—as did Afterpay and Zip. Klarna and Affirm also teamed up with Marqeta to embed their installment offerings in payment apps that work with the issuer processor. Worldpay made Klarna a default payment option for all Worldpay merchants.

Consumers—especially Gen Z—are eager to spend on live events: Summer concert ticket sales are at record levels thanks to high-profile stadium tours and the strong appeal of live experiences.

Italy’s digital landscape is evolving fast, driven by shifting consumer and media habits and increasing ecommerce adoption. Recent data reveals the trends shaping digital spending, retail sales, and more.

Between buy now, pay later (BNPL) players like Affirm and mobile wallets like Cash App and PayPal, the number of fintech cards on the market is growing. Affirm Card gross merchandise volume (GMV) jumped 113% YoY in the quarter ending December 31, 2024. And the number of active Cash App cardholders increased by 1 million in 2024.

Australia’s digital landscape is evolving fast, driven by shifting consumer behaviors, increasing ecommerce adoption, and changing media habits. Recent data reveals trends shaping digital spending, retail sales, and more.

Economic uncertainty could derail its efforts to reinvigorate growth

The news: Affirm scored a long-term capital partnership with investment firm Sixth Street to fuel the company’s growth plans, per a press release. Sixth Street will purchase up to $4 billion worth of Affirm’s loans in a three-year agreement. This will let Affirm extend more than $20 billion in loans over the three-year period. Affirm has 130 investors across multiple funding models.

Shoppers are more comfortable than ever using BNPL—and not just during the holidays. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) volume will hit $18.5 billion this holiday season, with Cyber Monday alone accounting for just shy of $1 billion in spend, per Adobe. That’s 27.6% more than BNPL holiday sales volume in 2022.

In our exclusive survey with ESW, data from shoppers in 18 countries reveals new twists in the path to purchase, the rising momentum of marketplaces, and the resilience of age-old fundamentals.

The news: More than half (55.3%) of Gen Zers use advanced budgeting tools—a greater share than any other generation, per a PYMNTS Intelligence report. Our take: Payment providers, issuers, and banks can embed more advanced tools within their apps to reach Gen Zers actively seeking sophisticated ways to plot out their spending and saving habits.

US financial media network ad spend will soar to $1.22 billion in 2026, nearly doubling from $640 million in 2025—a 66.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), per our May 2025 forecast.

The tie-up can bring in a large new stream of payments volume for the BNPL player, boosting growth ahead of going public next year

The news: Credit card delinquencies have sunk to their lowest levels in two years, within striking distance of pre-pandemic levels, per data from VantageScore’s Credit Gauge. Our take: Fewer issuers are tightening their credit card lending standards, but those looking to gain sign ups face troubled waters—consumer demand for credit cards fell in April by the most since the early days of the pandemic, per the Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Survey.

The news: Banks shouldn't use a single marketing strategy for all young people—Millennials (born 1981-1996) and Gen Z (born 1997-2012) have distinct financial behaviors. Millennials, shaped by economic uncertainty, seek stability and pragmatic digital tools, valuing expert advice. Gen Z, digital natives, demand effortless speed, are influencer-driven, and focus on immediate experiences, often skeptical of traditional banks. Our take: Marketing must be tailored. For millennials, emphasize trust, reliability, and security for long-term goals, offering expert education. For Gen Z, highlight speed, flexibility, and convenience through engaging, short-form content on platforms like TikTok, utilizing influencers to build rapport.

The news: PayPal partnered with the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences to enable payments for participating student-athletes. Our take: Capitalizing on young, emerging student consumers is a strong opportunity to secure long-time and loyal PayPal and Venmo users.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how folks viewed big ticket items over the Thanksgiving holiday shopping period, how in-store foot traffic shook out, and the impact of buy now, pay later (BNPL). Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Senior Analyst Zak Stambor and Analyst Rachel Wolff.

But the payment method’s volume grew slower than overall retail sales, suggesting providers need to do more to amp up growth

The news: PayPal will serve as Selfbook’s commerce partner for its travel and hotel offerings, per a press release. Customers can book travel arrangements directly within the PayPal app. Our take: Consumers want travel features from their banks, which PayPal has taken up as a fintech payment provider.

The news: Global Payments rolled out a retail point-of-sale (POS) system under its Genius platform targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Our take: Despite that clout, as other merchant service providers also diversify their offerings through verticalized software, hardware, and partnership integrations, Global Payments’ Genius will enter a crowded POS space with its offerings nearly indistinguishable from Stripe’s, Square’s, or Toast’s hardware and software lineups.

Even so, issuers may be slow to lift preemptive APR increases as they brace for economic turbulence