Flexible payments report 2026: instalment usage doubles across MENA

Instalment payment volume in MENA doubled over the past twelve months, according to MiSPay's 2026 flexible payments report, based on 18 million anonymised orders across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan.

The headline number is growth, but the more useful finding is the change in composition. Flexible payments are no longer concentrated in fashion and electronics, and they are no longer used mainly by first-time shoppers.

Five findings

1. Volume doubled. Instalment order volume grew 104% year over year

2. Categories broadened. Home, healthcare, travel, and education grew faster than fashion

3. Repeat use dominates. 68% of orders came from shoppers on their third plan or later

4. Plans got shorter. The median plan fell from 4 instalments to 3

5. Basket sizes converged. The gap between instalment and card baskets narrowed to 11%

Category shift

The fastest movers

Healthcare and education were the two fastest-growing categories in the dataset, both from a small base. Dental, optical, and elective procedures show a distinct pattern: fewer orders, larger amounts, and near-zero late payments.

The steady core

Fashion remains the largest category by order count and the most seasonal. Electronics remains the largest by value, with volume concentrated around device launches and school terms.

The surprise

Grocery and everyday essentials grew, but not in the way commentators predicted. Growth came from bulk and seasonal purchases rather than weekly baskets — Ramadan preparation, back-to-school supplies, and household restocking.

"The story is not that more people are borrowing. It is that people who already used instalments now use them for planned, larger, less emotional purchases."

Repayment behaviour

• 96.4% of instalments were paid on or before the due date

• Late-fee incidence fell from 4.1% to 2.8% of orders

• Shoppers who aligned a due date to a salary date were 34% less likely to pay late

• Median time to full repayment: 47 days

What merchants should take from this

The broadening of categories matters more than the growth rate. A merchant deciding whether flexible payments belong in their category can no longer rely on the assumption that this is a fashion and electronics product. In the last four quarters, the categories with the strongest repayment performance were the ones with the largest average order values and the longest consideration cycles.

The shortening of plans points the same way. Shoppers are not stretching payments as far as the product allows; they are picking the shortest plan that keeps an instalment comfortable. Merchants offering a single long plan across every category are almost certainly offering the wrong shape for most of their catalogue.

Method

The report covers orders placed between January 2025 and December 2025 across MiSPay's three live markets. All data is aggregated and anonymised, with no merchant-identifiable or shopper-identifiable figures published. Category definitions follow the merchant's primary classification, and cross-category merchants are attributed to their dominant category by order count.

The full report, including market-by-market breakdowns and the category appendix, is available on request.

About MiSPay

MiSPay is a regional payments company that lets shoppers split purchases into predictable instalments and helps merchants convert more of the demand they already have.

For press enquiries, contact press@mispay.co.