BNPL and payment orchestration: Best practices for 2025 and beyond

By 2028, the global Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market is expected to exceed $700 billion in transaction value. What started as a millennial-driven checkout trend has quickly become a fixture in ecommerce, offering flexible financing to shoppers and boosting average order value (AOV) for merchants.

But while BNPL adoption is growing fast, managing it behind the scenes is anything but straightforward.

Each provider has its own API, terms, risk model, and customer experience. Add more than one to your stack, and you’re looking at a tangle of integrations, inconsistent data flows, and operational headaches. Worse yet, if a provider goes down or performs poorly in one region, your checkout suffers—and so do your conversions.

That’s where payment orchestration comes in. By centralizing control and simplifying how BNPL options are integrated and managed, orchestration allows merchants to support multiple BNPL providers, reduce complexity, and adapt faster as consumer behavior shifts.

What is BNPL?

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is a financing option that allows customers to split a purchase into smaller, interest-free payments over time—often without needing a traditional credit card. It’s designed to reduce friction at checkout and give shoppers more flexibility, especially for higher-value items.

While the idea isn’t new, the digital experience is. BNPL today is fully integrated into online and in-store checkouts, offering instant approval and seamless UX. It’s one of the fastest-growing payment models across retail, travel, electronics, and fashion.

Common BNPL models:

• Pay-in-4: Customers pay 25% upfront and the rest in three bi-weekly installments (e.g., Afterpay, Klarna)
  Installment loans: Longer-term financing (3 to 36 months), often for high-ticket items (e.g., Affirm, Zip)
• Pay later: Deferred payments without installments (e.g., 14 or 30 days after delivery)
  

Leading BNPL providers:

• Klarna – Popular across Europe and the U.S., offering pay-in-4 and longer-term options
• Afterpay – Strong presence in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.
• Affirm – Focused on larger purchases and credit-based installment loans
• Zip – Offers short- and long-term options across several countries
• Scalapay, Clearpay, Sezzle, and others round out the global BNPL landscape
  

Why it matters to merchants:

• Increased conversion rates: Especially among younger buyers
• Higher average order values: Customers are more willing to spend when payments are spread out
• Risk offloading: The BNPL provider typically assumes credit risk and handles collections
• Customer acquisition: Many BNPL platforms bring their own shopper base to your checkout

But the payoff isn’t automatic. Supporting BNPL at scale brings operational challenges that few merchants anticipate upfront. In the next section, we’ll dig into how BNPL is growing—and what that means for merchant infrastructure.

BNPL growth and merchant opportunity

BNPL isn’t a niche add-on anymore—it’s becoming a core payment expectation in many markets. What began as a convenience feature has evolved into a competitive differentiator, especially in industries where price sensitivity or cash flow flexibility impacts buying decisions.

Rapid global expansion

According to data from Juniper Research, BNPL is on track to surpass $687 billion in global transaction value by 2028. This growth is being driven by:

• Younger demographics who prefer predictable installment plans over revolving credit
• Mobile-first experiences, where BNPL offers a seamless, in-checkout solution
• Merchants adopting BNPL to increase sales, boost AOV, and reduce cart abandonment
  

In markets like Australia, the U.K., and the U.S., BNPL usage has already become mainstream. In emerging markets, it’s being adopted as a financial inclusion tool, giving consumers access to products without traditional credit.

What this means for merchants

Offering BNPL can deliver real results:

• Uplift in AOV: Many merchants report increases between 20%–40%
• Higher checkout conversion: Particularly for first-time or price-sensitive shoppers
• Customer loyalty: Shoppers are more likely to return to brands that offer flexible payments
  

That said, not all BNPL experiences are equal. Poor UX, inconsistent approval rates, or lack of support for returns can erode those benefits quickly.

To make BNPL work at scale, merchants need the flexibility to choose the right providers for the right markets—and the infrastructure to manage them without adding unnecessary complexity.

In the next section, we’ll explore the challenges that come with supporting multiple BNPL options—and how those challenges can slow down growth if left unchecked.

The operational complexity of supporting BNPL

While offering Buy Now, Pay Later can unlock growth, it often comes with significant operational baggage. Each provider has its own infrastructure, approval logic, risk profile, and backend flow—and managing that stack is rarely as simple as plugging in an API.

Multiple integrations, one checkout

Every provider you add means another technical integration. That includes:

• Different APIs and SDKs
• Unique settlement cycles and transaction reporting
• Varying refund, dispute, and chargeback processes
• Custom logic for handling failed payments or expired installments
  

Even just two or three BNPL providers can introduce overlapping logic, additional failure points, and unnecessary complexity at checkout. And yet, offering only one BNPL option can limit your reach in certain markets—or turn away customers who were approved elsewhere.

UX inconsistencies hurt conversion

Beyond the backend, Buy Now, Pay Later providers differ in how they handle the user experience. Some redirect to external flows. Others ask for sensitive details upfront. The result is a fragmented checkout experience that can confuse users and erode trust.

Risk management doesn’t scale cleanly

Although Buy Now, Pay Later providers assume most of the credit risk, merchants are still responsible for how BNPL interacts with their fraud systems, compliance processes, and refunds. Coordinating that across multiple vendors—especially across borders—isn’t scalable without a centralized approach.

Settlement and reporting gets messy

Each provider comes with different:

• Payout schedules
• Fee structures
• Transaction descriptors
• Data formats

Reconciling those into a single source of truth can overwhelm finance teams—especially as order volume increases.

So what’s the answer? It’s not to simplify by offering less. It’s to streamline how these systems are managed—and that’s where orchestration becomes a game-changer.

The role of payment orchestration in BNPL

Supporting multiple BNPL options doesn’t need to mean more complexity—if you have the right orchestration layer in place. Payment orchestration acts as a centralized control panel for all your payment providers, including BNPL, enabling you to connect, configure, and optimize without redeploying your tech stack each time.

One integration, multiple BNPLs

With orchestration, you can:

• Plug in multiple BNPL providers through a single integration
• Add or remove providers without deep engineering involvement
• Test new providers in specific geographies, customer segments, or product categories
• Control how, when, and where BNPL options appear at checkout
  

This lets you scale fast without compromising UX or operational efficiency.

Smarter routing, better outcomes

Payment orchestration allows you to dynamically route BNPL options based on rules you define:

• If one provider has better approval rates in Sweden, route those transactions there
• If one provider performs better on high-ticket items, display it only for orders above $200
• If a provider’s API is down, failover to a backup without losing the sale
  

That kind of intelligent routing is only possible when you’re not locked into static integrations.

Unified reporting and reconciliation

Rather than dealing with scattered reports, orchestration platforms provide centralized dashboards and data formats. This makes it easier to:

• Track BNPL performance across providers
• Reconcile settlements and fees
• Identify patterns in approval or decline rates
• Report across payment types consistently

Streamlined compliance and risk management

With orchestration, you can manage your PCI DSS requirements, refund workflows, and fraud tools from one layer—simplifying your operational burden even as your payment stack expands.

To explore more orchestration benefits, see Top 10 benefits of using payment orchestration in 2025.

Best practices for merchants

If you’re planning to offer or expand BNPL options, here are key best practices to ensure you capture the benefits—without creating operational drag.

Choose BNPL providers strategically

Not all BNPLs are created equal. Evaluate partners based on:

• Geographic strength (e.g., Afterpay in Australia, Klarna in Europe)
• Approval rates for your target audience
• Fee structure (percentage vs. fixed, high-risk surcharges)
• User experience and brand fit
• Integration and support capabilities

Offer more than one option

Supporting multiple BNPLs improves your reach, particularly in international markets or among different buyer profiles. Use payment orchestration to manage them efficiently without inflating your engineering overhead.

Localize your BNPL checkout

Display relevant BNPL providers based on the shopper’s location, currency, or basket size. This reduces cognitive load and boosts conversion.

Monitor performance regularly

Track how each BNPL performs in terms of:

• Conversion rates
• Approval rates
• Cart abandonment
• Refund disputes

Use orchestration tools to adjust logic dynamically, optimizing for the best outcomes.

Streamline backend processes

Work with orchestration platforms that unify:

• Refund workflows
• Dispute management
• Reporting and settlement reconciliation

This reduces load on your operations, finance, and customer support teams.

Frequently asked questions

Do BNPL providers all charge the same fees?

No. Fee structures vary significantly between providers, often depending on risk appetite, region, and transaction value. Some charge a percentage plus fixed fee, others tailor rates based on volume.

Can I offer BNPL alongside cards and wallets?

Absolutely. BNPL should be part of a broader payment mix. Many merchants display it alongside credit cards, debit, and digital wallets—especially in mobile-first checkouts.

What happens if a provider is down?

With payment orchestration, you can reroute traffic to a backup provider automatically, avoiding disruption to the customer experience.

Is offering multiple BNPLs too complex for small teams?

It can be—unless you use a platform that consolidates your payment logic. Payment orchestration allows even lean teams to manage multiple BNPLs with one integration and minimal maintenance.

How do I switch BNPL providers without breaking my checkout?

Orchestration enables this by decoupling your frontend from each provider’s backend logic. You can add, remove, or replace providers without rewriting your stack.

BNPL isn’t just another payment option—it’s a conversion tool, a growth lever, and a competitive advantage. But to scale it well, merchants need to move beyond one-off integrations and fragmented operations.

Payment orchestration makes that possible.

It gives you the freedom to experiment, the flexibility to support local nuances, and the control to manage providers, data, and performance from one place.

If you’re serious about building a future-proof BNPL strategy that adapts with your business—not against it—now is the time to rethink your infrastructure.

Contact Gr4vy to see how our payment orchestration platform helps you support, manage, and scale BNPL globally—without the complexity.