The numbers are stubborn. Roughly 70% of online carts are abandoned (baymard.com), and the biggest trigger is cost shock: 48–50% leave when fees and shipping appear (www.affirm.com). Some people are just browsing—42% say they weren’t ready (www.supadu.com)—but that still leaves a huge share of carts lost to fixable checkout friction.
From a merchant’s seat, this is the “liquidity scoreboard.” Every payment choice, every extra fee, every card decline is a point against you.
The checkout problem isn’t just user experience; it’s cash flow. 15–20% of card transactions get declined (chargebacks911.com), and about 80% of those declines are “do not honor” or insufficient funds (chargebacks911.com).
That’s not a niche issue. 37% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency expense (fortune.com). This is the real reason people “get trapped at checkout.” They want the product, but they don’t have liquid funds—right now.
BNPL: the liquidity release valve
Buy Now, Pay Later has filled that gap. The model is simple: pay 25% upfront, then three installments over six weeks (resolvepay.com). That’s not just a nice-to-have; it’s become standard behavior. 86.5 million Americans used BNPL in 2024 (resolvepay.com), and global users hit ~360 million (explodingtopics.com).
What I find most telling is how quickly BNPL has become a decision criterion. 49% of shoppers say they’ll only buy from retailers that offer BNPL (www.affirm.com), and 66% of BNPL users have abandoned a cart when it wasn’t available (www.directtoconsumer.co). That’s not a feature—it’s table stakes.
Why the scoreboard tilts when BNPL appears
The conversion impact is real. Adding BNPL can lift conversion 20–30% (www.affirm.com), and Klarna reports 30–35% improvements (www.directtoconsumer.co). The effect isn’t just “switching payment rails.” Stripe found two‑thirds of BNPL orders were net-new sales (www.directtoconsumer.co).
Then there’s the cart size. Affirm reports up to 87% higher AOV on BNPL orders (www.directtoconsumer.co). That resonates with behavior I see: once a purchase is reframed from “$500 today” to “$125 now,” shoppers stop trimming and start adding.
“Don’t get trapped at checkout” — for both sides
For merchants, the takeaway is straightforward: don’t let liquidity be the reason a ready buyer walks away. For consumers, the caveat is to use BNPL responsibly. Late fees hit 10.5% of BNPL users in 2021 (resolvepay.com), and 66% of people say BNPL feels financially risky (explodingtopics.com).
The broader point: liquidity has become a core checkout metric. The scoreboard now rewards the brands that respect how people actually pay, not just how they wish people would pay.