The 2019 buy now, pay later report by Mozo has been released, does it contain good news for the Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) share price?
Afterpay Touch is the owner of the popular “buy now, pay later” app. As of mid 2019, Afterpay had over 5.2 million registered users worldwide, making it one of Australia’s true technology success stories.
Mozo is one of the biggest comparison and finance sites in Australia.
Mozo’s 2019 Buy Now, Pay Later Report
According to Mozo, up to 30% of Australian adults now have one or more buy now, pay later (BNPL) accounts. Of the BNPL users surveyed by Mozo, 84% have an Afterpay account.
This is great news for Afterpay because it shows it’s the clear favourite among users. Being the favourite means that more users will go for it, even over other options. This is much better for repeat business from customers.
It’s unlikely that Afterpay will be able to win significantly more Australian adults onto its platform in the short term, so growth could come from increasing usage by existing customers and expansion into other sectors.
Mozo’s survey found that BNPL services are more attractive compared to a credit card. And why not? Afterpay is free to customers as long as they repay on time, whereas credit cards can be expensive if you start being charged interest. Not good news for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and other banks.
Another interesting element was that shopping via a BNPL app almost doubled from 14% in 2018 to 27% in 2019. That increases the importance of the BNPL provider because it keeps the customer in the ecosystem. That could be one of the main points Afterpay can use to defend itself in the RBA BNPL investigation – it offers more than just a merchant service.
But one worrying element from the report was overspending due to BNPL platforms. Half of people said they spent more on BNPL compared to when they used their debit & credit cards. And around 28% have found themselves in “financial strife” due to BNPL platforms, although 87.3% say their spending is under control.
Summary
It seems the BNPL industry is ingrained into the spending habits of many of us, which bodes well for Afterpay. But the numbers do show that for around a quarter of people it can lead to painful overspending.
Despite the current Afterpay share price malaise I’m not looking to buy shares. I think there’s a lot of uncertainty about its profitable growth prospects in the next couple of years. There’s also a lot more competition in the sector like Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P), FlexiGroup Limited (ASX: FXL) and so on.
Compared to Afterpay, I think the growth shares in the free report below could be much better options.
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