The financing of purchases for months without interest is the great ally of customers and businesses in post-pandemic times. 74% of Mexican users use this type of financing, which has allowed businesses to maintain and even increase their sales.
A PayPal survey revealed that 85% of people consider the months without interest as one of the decisive factors to make a purchase. Even 50% are encouraged to do it even when they do not need it.
There are four reasons why Mexicans prefer to pay monthly without interest: 1) better management of their money, 2) they maintain liquidity because they do not pay immediately, 3) they acquire products that would otherwise be difficult to obtain, and 4) trade respect the price you see at that moment.
Data from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) show that until June 2021, monthly promotions, with and without interest, are one of the main elements to stimulate the sale of goods and services through payment by credit card.
49.7% of the credit card balance was used to make purchases under these financing programs.
The months without interest are no longer only on the cards, for a decade some financing methods emerged on the market such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) that has grown in Mexico hand in hand with technology companies. Offering these solutions increases 30% of the sales of its clients.
“Mexico really is a very fertile market with a lot of opportunity because the population is large and not everyone has access to credit. There are very few credit cards on the market,” said Carlos Magaña, CEO of Zip México, a company dedicated to offering financing through BNPL.
The manager explained that financing on his platform grew in recent months in segments such as tourism and household appliances; however, the leaders par excellence are the fashion and beauty items businesses, as well as technology items such as cell phones and computers.
Last July, BBVA Mexico presented the launch of new functionalities through Open Pay, a bank payment portfolio with which they seek to offer financial solutions to SMEs such as remote payment links and a tool to offer interest-free monthly installments.
For small and medium-sized businesses, according to the PayPal study, stopping offering months without interest to their customers could harm up to 40% of their sales, since this is the way to have captive customers with higher transactions.
