When you offer payment options, you are meeting the expectations of your customers. Payment flexibility is now an integral part of every shopper’s experience, as increased spending power opens doors to more possibilities.
When you offer payment options, you expand your reach. You now have the ability to help all your customers, not just those who qualify for prime credit. With Fortiva® Retail Credit as a partner, you have the ability to cut through that distinction quickly. If your customer is not approved for by a prime lender, he or she has the immediate option to apply for a second-look alternative. In most cases, that application is instantly processed and decisioned.
Financing is often a retailer’s most powerful asset, as it is both a marketing and sales tool. The second-look solution creates a positive integrated consumer experience. You have just solved a worrisome problem. You have come through. You have become an ally rather than just a merchant to your customers.
And just because your customer doesn’t ask for financing doesn’t mean it isn’t wanted. Or needed. It’s a tool better served on your hip rather than in your toolbox, at the ready at a moment’s notice. Financing should be an important part of any retailer’s standard sales process — and should be offered to every customer at every opportunity.
Financing and payment options should be embedded in every aspect of a retailer’s marketing plan. Financing should be called out on your website, in your print and digital outreach, in your cyclical marketing communications. As well, your store associates should be completely trained and versed on introducing, building and closing the finance discussion.
Payment options help take your customers beyond their original vision. To that end, our merchant partners have reported that up to 25%* of their customers with a Fortiva Retail Credit* account not only spend more, but return to make additional purchases**. In an environment now driven by reviews and stars, that’s the best testimonial we could ever hope to receive. At Fortiva Retail Credit, we believe retailers should leverage the second-look solution as a competitive advantage for them and a clear benefit to their customers.
* Fortiva® Retail Credit is a technology-enabled second look point-of-sale consumer credit program offering accounts underwritten and issued by The Bank of Missouri. The Fortiva Retail Credit program is managed by subsidiaries of Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: ATLC).
** Fortiva Retail Credit’s top 20 performing partners, 2019 data