Gen Z is leaning on buy-now-pay-later funding to fuel its holiday spending, according to a survey conducted by Dynata for Glassbox, which provides customer intelligence support for banks in the United States.
At a time when paying for goods and services is undergoing significant change, the survey indicated that GenZers expected to increase holiday spending significantly this holiday season, but not without help. As they look for payment options, 55% of Gen Z survey respondents said they intended to use alternative payment methods such as Apple Pay, Paypal, Venmo and BNPL at least three to five times during the holiday season.
While half of Gen Z respondents indicated they would rely on BNPL frequently, yet they expressed some caution about its use. In the survey, 55% of respondents stated that they wanted more robust mobile security features and 45% desired real-time spending alerts and budgeting tools. Also, 21% of GenZers expressed a desire for temporary spending limits to help keep them on track financially during the holidays.
In taking a broader perspective, the research indicated that 29% of Millennials and 30% of Gen Zers feel banks are not meeting their service expectations. Consumers are calling for advanced digital banking tools, including enhanced transaction monitoring to improve transparency, virtual credit cards to enable safer online shopping and holiday-specific budgeting tools.
