Laybuy enlists Donna Adi for interactive street art project
Buy now, pay later venture Laybuy has teamed with LA-based multimedia artist Donna Adi for an ‘Instagrammable’ mural located on Thomas Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Celebrating the introduction of hundreds of new brands to Laybuy’s app, this features a model surrounded by various items, from lipstick to shoes.
When people scan QR codes, both in person and online, the piece of interactive street art will offer them the chance to get their hands on said items, along with products from such brands as Asos, Net-a-Porter, Charlotte Tilbury and Nike.
Additionally, as part of a nationwide ‘Laybuy Scavenger Hunt’ competition, similar codes will be featured in select Laybuy out of home media across the country, with cash prizes up for grabs.
Adi says: “With all of the pieces that I do, I love to celebrate modern culture, so this piece is a celebration of the items and experiences that make people happy – whether that’s a new pair of shoes or a holiday to an incredible destination.”
“It’s really exciting to see this come to life in street art form and incorporating the code so that people scanning it could potentially win all the things I love to draw is really cool too.”
Robyn Rohloff of Laybuy says:: “We’re excited that our customers can now shop and pay using Laybuy at hundreds of new retailers and do it all through our app.”
“We wanted to share some of that excitement with our customers with our competition.”
Citizens Advice research
One in ten shoppers who use buy now pay later have been chased by debt collectors, Citizens Advice claimed last week.
According to its research, these people were charged £39 million in late fees in the past year.
Of those who were referred to a debt collector for missed payments, 96% experienced a negative consequence.
They reported at least one of the following: sleepless nights; ignoring texts, emails and letters in case they were about debts; avoiding answering the door; borrowing money to repay the debt; or their mental health getting worse.
Yet the charity found that not one of the BNPL checkouts on leading retailers’ websites warned people they could be referred to debt collectors for missed payments. Instead this was only flagged in the T&Cs on a separate page, if at all.
Citizens Advice conducted mystery shopping at 100 leading retailers and found 38 offered BNPL, with 22 offering more than two options, meaning there were a total of 74 BNPL checkouts.
Out of those offering BNPL, only 11% warned shoppers they were taking out a credit agreement, the remaining 89% put this information in the small print or T&Cs.
Citizens Advice asked the BNPL firms featured in the research if they ever referred customers to debt collectors.
Klarna, Clearpay, Laybuy and Openpay confirmed they do this as a last resort. Splitit said it doesn’t. PayPal refused to comment.
Citizens Advice says it is s calling on the Treasury to urgently regulate this space as it “fears shoppers have been left unprotected and ill-informed during the rapid expansion of the sector”.
