Buy now pay later consumer web traffic has been moderating since the middle of last year and turned negative in March, according to new research.
Using data from the App Store, Play Store and its own research, Macquarie Securities said there were 63.8 million global BNPL website visits in March, which was 1.4 per cent below the number of visits in March 2021.
The number of website visits fell to 62.1 million April.
Macquarie said visits to the Klarna and Affirm sites have held up, while there have been big year-on-year falls in the number of visits to the Afterpay, Clearpay, Sezzle and Zip sites.
“We remain cautious on Sezzle and Zip to deliver value, given web traffic continues to decline. This raises further concern on whether the group will be able to control funding costs, given a rising interest rate environment.”
Merchant numbers have continued to grow strongly for some providers, including Afterpay, but web traffic has not matched this growth.
Macquarie said: “Afterpay may be failing to attract new customers at rates it has seen in the past, as the business reaches maturity and the industry normalises.
“We maintain our cautious view on the growth profile for BNPL. Pure-play BNPL players are at largest risk.”
The merchant attrition rate in April was 11 basis points, which is in line with long-term averages.