Address https://plainenglish.com/lessons/buy-now-pay-later/
Lesson #471 May 26, 2022 Filed: Business
Buy now, pay later is on the rise as Americans learn to love the Brazilian way to pay. People without credit scores and credit cards are able to spread out paying off purchases over longer periods of time. Retailers love it, too, because their customers will buy more, and buy more often. Plus, learn “think twice.”
正體翻譯
隨著美國人學會喜歡巴西式的支付方式，先買後付的情況正在上升。沒有信用分數和信用卡的人能夠在更長的時間內分散支付購買的東西。零售商也喜歡這樣，因為他們的顧客會買得更多，而且買得更頻繁。另外，要學會 "三思爾後行"。
00:08-01:08
Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and you are listening to Plain English lesson number 471. Here at Plain English, JR and I help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. Who, exactly, is JR? He’s the producer and he’s the one working hard behind the scenes to make sure you get the audio on time every week, that the web site is updated with all our great content. Speaking of which, the URL for this lesson is PlainEnglish.com/471. And there is a lot to discover there in addition to the audio lesson.
正體翻譯
大家好，我是傑夫，你正在收聽的是《Plain English》第471課。在 《Plain English》，JR和我用時事和流行的話題幫助你提升你的英語。究竟誰是JR？他是製作人，他在幕後努力工作，確保你每周都能按時收到音頻，確保網站上有我們所有的精彩內容。說到這裡，本課的網址是 PlainEnglish.com/471。除了音頻課程外，那裡還有很多東西可以發現。Lesson summary
01:08-02:08
Coming up today: A new type of “fintech” company is offering a convenient new way to pay for goods and services online. This will sound familiar to our Brazilian listeners. It’s called “buy now, pay later.” The specific product is new,(at lest for us) but the concept is old as time—and so are the drawbacks, as some in the TikTok generation are starting to learn. In the second half of the lesson, I’ll show you what it means to “think twice.” And we have a song of the week. Let’s get started.
正體翻譯
今天即將推出：一家新型的 "金融科技" 公司正在提供一種方便的在線支付商品和服務的新方式。這對我們的巴西聽眾來說聽起來很熟悉。這就是所謂的 "先買後付"。具體的產品是新的，但這個概念是古老的，其缺點也是如此，正如TikTok一代中的一些人開始瞭解到的。在本課的後半部分，我將告訴你什麼是 "三思爾後行"。我們還有一首本週的歌曲。讓我們開始吧。Buy now, pay later: the newest innovation in online shopping
02:15-03:01
I don’t have to tell you that online shopping is a big deal, here in the U.S. as in many other parts of the world. In 2021, American consumers spent $870 billion in online commerce. And in recent years, as those shoppers got to the checkout page, they started to notice a new payment option. It’s called “Buy Now, Pay Later.”
正體翻譯
我不必告訴你，網上購物是一件大事，在美國和在世界許多其他地方一樣。2021年，美國消費者在網上商務中花費了8700億美元。而近年來，當這些購物者進入結賬頁面時，他們開始注意到一種新的支付選項。這就是所謂的 "先買後付"。03:02-03:40
The option is offered by new companies with names like Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm. It works like this. Consumers can buy a product for, say, $200. But instead of paying $200 upfront, they can split it into four monthly payments of $50 each—and pay no interest.
正體翻譯
該選項由新公司提供，名稱為Klarna、Afterpay和Affirm。它的工作原理是這樣的。消費者可以購買一個產品，例如200美元。但是，他們可以把它分成四個月支付，每個月支付50美元，而不是預付200美元，而且不付任何利息。03:40-04:25
These companies market themselves as a friendly way to pay. Their names, web sites, colors, marketing, and messaging are all bright, positive, upbeat, fresh, friendly, and modern—a contrast to the stuffy, restrictive, rules-laden world of banks and traditional credit cards. And this new payment option is a hit with Generation Z.
正體翻譯
這些公司把自己推銷為一種友好的支付方式。他們的名稱、網站、顏色、營銷和信息傳遞都是明亮、積極、樂觀、新鮮、友好和現代的，這與銀行和傳統信用卡的保守的、限制性、充滿規則的境況形成了鮮明的對比。這種新的支付方式在Z世代中很受歡迎。04:26-05:07
Consumers like buy now, pay later for a few reasons. The first one is obvious: get what you want today and pay less for it. To date , credit cards have been the primary way a consumer can get something today and pay for it tomorrow. But not everyone can get a credit card. To get a credit card here, you need a credit history (and need to be) in the United States.
正體翻譯
消費者喜歡先買後付，有幾個原因。第一個原因很明顯：今天得到你想要的東西，並為之支付較少的費用。迄今為止，信用卡一直是消費者今天得到東西，明天再付款的主要方式。但不是每個人都能獲得信用卡。要在這裡獲得一張信用卡，你需要在美國有信用記錄（並且需要）。05:08-05:50
But over 53 million Americans don’t have a credit score, so they can’t even get a credit card. And people who’ve recently immigrated might have the credit history, just not in the right country. Buy now, pay later companies do analyze the potential buyer, but they don’t rely on traditional credit scores. That allows them to offer credit to shoppers that can’t get a credit card.
正體翻譯
但超過5300萬美國人沒有信用分數，所以他們甚至無法獲得信用卡。而最近移民的人可能有信用記錄，只是沒有在合適的國家。先買後付的公司確實分析了潛在的買家，但他們並不依賴傳統的信用評分。這使他們能夠向無法獲得信用卡的購物者提供信貸。05:51-06:23
In fact, this is the exact reason this payment became popular in the United States. Paying in installments is common in some parts of the world, especially in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. But it hadn’t ever caught on in the United States, where consumers preferred credit cards.
正體翻譯
事實上，這正是這種付款方式在美國開始流行的原因。分期付款在世界一些地方很普遍，特別是在巴西和拉丁美洲其他地方。但它在美國一直沒有流行起來，美國的消費者更喜歡信用卡。06:24-07:10
Then Walmart realized that many of its customers wanted to pay for their items over time, but they didn’t qualify for credit cards—they didn’t even qualify for the Walmart store card. So Walmart partnered with Affirm, a startup, to let shoppers pay in installments. And it worked. Suddenly, other stores, especially online stores, realized that if this was working for Walmart, it could work for them, too.
正體翻譯
然後，沃爾瑪意識到，許多顧客想在一段時間內支付他們的商品，但他們沒有資格使用信用卡，他們甚至沒有資格使用沃爾瑪商店卡。因此，沃爾瑪與一家創業公司Affirm合作，讓購物者以分期付款方式付款。這很有效。突然間，其他商店，特別是網上商店意識到，如果這對沃爾瑪有效，對他們也可能有效。timeline
While it started by catering to consumers who couldn’t get credit, the idea has gone mainstream. Now, many consumers who do have credit cards still prefer buy now, pay later. They think it’s easier to manage than credit card debt. With credit cards, you have to pay the full balance at the end of every month; if you don’t, you start paying interest. If you can’t pay the full amount, a lump-sum balance rolls forward from month to month. And for consumers that carry credit card balances, there’s no end in sight—there’s no term to a credit card loan, it just seems to go on forever .
正體翻譯
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But with buy now, pay later, a $200 purchase spread over four monthly payments has a beginning and an end, and no interest. And if consumers pay on time, there are no fees either.
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Wait—no fees? So how do these companies make money? The answer is they charge the retailer, usually three percent of the total purchase. And why do retailers pay the charge? Three reasons: cart abandonment, average order size, and order frequency.
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Consumers often put items in their online shopping cart, and then get to the checkout page and, for whatever reason, they don’t order. This is called cart abandonment, and it has many causes. It could be password issues . It could be that having to enter a credit card makes them think twice . Or it could be that the price is just too high.
正體翻譯
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But if, say , a $200 item only requires a $50 payment today, and if you don’t even need to enter a credit card number, well, that sounds more reasonable. And more consumers continue with the purchase rather than abandon the cart—and the store makes their money.
正體翻譯
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There are two other reasons retailers like buy now, pay later: average order size and order frequency. Afterpay is one of the buy now, pay later firms. They have a special page where they explain their service to retailers, and on that page they cite two compelling statistics. First, shoppers who use Afterpay spend 40 percent more per order. And those same shoppers complete 50 percent more transactions.
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Retailers, then, are all too happy to pay the three percent fee these companies charge because they know that with this option, their customers will buy more, and buy more often.
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So what’s not to like? SFGate is a web site based in San Francisco, where many of these buy now, pay later companies are based. And SFGate found that Generation Z is spiraling into debt by using buy now, pay later.
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On Monday’s lesson, I’ll tell you what that investigation found, and why it’s worrying.
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to be updateCredit challenges
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I will say this, it’s not easy to establish a credit history and credit score if you just move here from another country. And there are so many advantages to having a credit card, even if you don’t use it to borrow, and those are not available to people without a credit score. So I do appreciate that buy now, pay later can help someone spread out payments for something big, like a flight or a new appliance or something. But, as we’ll see next week, a lot of people are buying everyday things this way…and I’d think twice about doing that. Speaking of which…