A large percentage of South African Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) purchases take place in February and March, when many companies pay out annual bonuses. It seems illogical that just as consumers get an extra cash injection, they turn to BNPL, but there is method to the madness, says Tracey-Lee Zürcher-Campbell, spokesperson at Payflex.
“We find that responsible consumers use large parts of their bonus to pay off bigger debts, like store or credit cards. However, they also want to enjoy some of it. They use BNPL to pay off smaller special purchases over a few weeks, without incurring additional interest, or affecting their debt repayment plans.”
Zürcher-Campbell says spending patterns across all Payflex’s products in 2025 show a marked seasonality. Consumers spend more before and around winter, as winter fashion is typically more expensive than summer. Spending also increases at hallmark retail moments like Black Friday in November or during the festive season in December.
Unsurprisingly, Payflex always sees lower spend in actual rand value in January and February, Zürcher-Campbell says, “because Janu-worry is a real thing”.
That said, the number of transactions per month remains constant throughout the year, once annual growth is taken into account.
“In other words, it is the Rand value that is seasonal, not whether people use BNPL,” she says.
Women make up roughly 73% of BNPL users, and the highest spending category by far is fashion and apparel, followed by general marketplaces like Takealot and Makro that sell ‘everything’. Third is tech and electronics, followed by home and decor; health and beauty; and fitness and wellness.
TransUnion’s CreditVision Telco Data Score data-modelling found that over 1.4 million credit-invisible South Africans open new credit accounts each year. TransUnion says roughly 35% of new-to-credit consumers are under the age of 25, and need ways to cover essentials like work clothing before they receive their first salary cheque.
“This may in part explain the popularity of the fashion and apparel category,” Zürcher-Campbell says. “With BNPL, consumers are not overspending on ridiculous credit limits, but rather taking a very strategic decision to smooth out their spending over time, using relatively small credit limits.”
She points out that, based on growth in the past year, Payflex expects the market size to double in the next financial year.
