Australia-based BNPL company Humm has decided to scale back on its expansion in the United Kingdom due to worsening market conditions.
The Buy Now, Pay Later company is following in the footsteps of Zip and Openpay as it retreats from England, Scotland and Wales. However, the company will maintain a presence in Ireland and Northern Ireland, as it has reported much more success in those regions.
Humm representatives cited by altfi.com revealed that the decision to scale back was made in light of a number of challenges in the UK economy and a competitive macro environment. The company will pull back from entering the United Kingdom and will instead focus on its Irish branch while maintaining its credit licence to service merchants in Northern Ireland.
Humm isn’t the only BNPL provider that has decided to scale down recenlty. In March 2022, BNPL lender Openpay has decided to end its presence in the UK. According to sifted.eu, the company closed its shop just three weeks after entering the market due to a high degree of competition for merchant acquisition.
In July 2022, Openpay also left the US. According to Reuters, the American expansion caused Openpay's losses to increase by 65% in H1 2022, and current economic and market conditions, along with ‘the likely ongoing capital investment required’ forced Openpay to stop extending loans and cut most of its US unit's staff.
In the same month, Buy Now, Pay Later firm Zip left the UK market following a major GBP 600 million loss. In Zip’s case, it left the UK one year after its launch, more specifically a month after it decided to terminate acquisition plans for Sezzle. According to proactiveinvestors.co.uk, the company said it would leave the UK after simplifying its product range and exiting Singapore, with the aim of reducing its cash burn by focusing on the US, Australia and New Zealand.
According to financial analytics company GlobalData, BNPL is estimated to rise 2.5 times in the ecommerce payments market by 2026. The report indicated that BNPL is becoming a popular payment option among online shoppers in Asia-Pacific (APAC) and is expected to account for a 4.1% share of ecommerce payments value in 2026.
The reason behind this expected surge is that BNPL is emerging as a viable payment option for consumers who do not have access to traditional credit options such as a credit card. BNPL allows this demographic to pay for purchases in instalments at later dates.
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