Many shoppers take a strange comfort of buying now and paying later – but it can come with a sting after Christmas

By Anita Lifen Zhao, Associate Professor of Marketing at the School of Management, Swansea University
Philippa Ward, Professor of Marketing, University of Gloucestershire
Ruffin Relja, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Gloucestershire

It’s that time of year again, and retailers are pulling out all the stops to get us spending – from Black Friday to new year’s sales.

The average Briton expects to shell out around £300 on Christmas gifts. But as budgets tighten, more people are turning to buy-now-pay-later schemes to spread the cost over time. Our research…

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