Buy Now, Pay Later

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

October 9, 2023

Over the past few weeks, news about consumer indebtedness has been flagged as a worrisome topic, so I decided to share one of those stories here. This USA Today headline caught my eye: Concerns growing about buy now, pay later plans.

The story cites a survey of 2,223 U.S. adults between August 31^st and September 3^rd by business intelligence consulting firm Morning Consult. “More than 2 out of 5 users carry buy now, pay later debt and one-quarter of them missed a payment last month.” Interestingly, the demographics of “buy now, pay later” plans are not who I thought they were. I presumed this type of financing may have been people and families of lesser means, but that’s not the case. “Thirty-seven percent of Gen Z and 32% of millennials said they made a buy now, pay later purchase in August, compared with 16% of Gen Xers and 6% of Boomers.”

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is mentioned in the story too. “On average, their credit scores (buy now, pay later, consumers) are 50 points lower than non-users.” Looking at this trend and where things stand with growing credit card debt is something to be aware of.

Speaking of the Philadelphia Fed, join us Friday morning at 9:00 am for a discussion about these and other economic issues with President Patrick Harker. You can register for this free event here.

News You Can Use

Economic data insights begin on Tuesday this week with the September NFIB optimism index and wholesale inventories from August. On Wednesday we’ll see September producer price index results and the release of the Fed’s September FOMC meeting minutes. Thursday brings us the Consumer Price Index data for September, while the import price index numbers for September are released on Friday.

This is a very light week for company earnings calls. On Tuesday, PepsiCo is the headliner, as is Delta Air Lines on Thursday. Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and UnitedHealth Group are on Friday.

Michael J. Quaranta

President

Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

Uniquely Delaware

October is National Women's Small Business Month

In 1972, there were a little over 400,000 women-owned businesses in the United States. Until 1988, women needed a male relative to co-sign if they wanted to apply for a business loan. That same year, the Women’s Business Ownership Act increased SBA’s access to capital to provide financial assistance to organizations geared toward women-owned small businesses. By 2019, women-owned businesses represented 42% of all U.S. businesses and generated $1.9 trillion worth of revenue. Today, there are over 13 million women-owned businesses and counting. Every October, SBA honors the milestone achievements of today’s women-owned businesses. Learn more >

49.4%

of Delaware workers were

women in 2022

42.2%

of Delaware businesses in

2022 were women-owned

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy

DO BUSINESS WITH OUR WOMAN-OWNED BUSINESS MEMBERS >

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For more than five decades, O.A. Newton has been a single-source provider of turnkey material handling systems for customers throughout the world. The company serves the plastics industry, as well as other industries, including those processing dry bulk solids and hard-to-handle materials.

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