Buy Now Pay Later – A valuable solution for today’s online merchants

Buy Now Pay Later – A valuable solution for today’s online merchants & shoppers

As the coronavirus outbreak continues and “shelter in place” guidelines are extended, US eCommerce is prospering and has become the new norm. Consumers are spending more on furniture, apparel, footwear, and accessories. Data suggests that shoppers are likely buying comfortable items to work from home, diving into home improvement projects, or purchasing workout gear that will get them through the next several weeks of being confined to their households. Consumers are also taking advantage of Buy Now Pay Later options as it gives them control and flexibility over their payments. 

Furniture Today reported that online browsing for furniture alone has increased 200% within the last month, this suggests consumers are spending an increased amount of time on the internet browsing. Consumers are paying more attention to marketing messages, social ads, and more. Further research demonstrates that consumers aren’t necessarily spending less money but they aren’t spending more money either. Rather consumers have turned to make their purchases entirely online. Consumers are now looking for more viable alternatives for items they’re used to purchasing in-store and are open to purchasing more comparable products, in fact, it’s been reported that over 40% of consumers have been trying new brands. 

Businesses across the globe are being challenged to think differently about how to approach customer acquisition and retention in light of COVID-19. The best action merchants can take is to connect with their consumers on a basic human level. Educate consumers through your marketing efforts on how you are tackling COVID-19 and/or include pictures of your staff taking all the necessary safety precautions during this time. Another immediate action you can take to maintain business continuity is by offering your consumers Buy Now Pay Later solutions.

ChargeAfter enables merchants to offer Buy Now Pay Later solutions to their consumers across all credit tiers (prime, near-prime and sub-prime), this way all consumers have access to acquire the products they need, today. Imagine having a conversation with your shoppers at the point of sale and asking them what monthly price they feel comfortable paying and how long they would like the monthly payments to last. Think about the surprise and satisfaction that would bring your buyers. Point of Sale Financing or Buy Now Pay Later is essentially just that, it’s offering your shoppers choice and flexibility in payment options.

Merchants using ChargeAfter as the Point of Sale financing platform can approve up to 85% of their consumers’ applications. Shoppers will have the option to finance their purchase between a period of 6 – 48 months while enjoying 0% APR. The diverse group of global lenders ChargeAfter works with allows us to offer the highest approval rates for consumers who apply for financing. More than ever consumers are demanding flexibility in payment options, it’s necessary to adapt to buyers’ demands to fuel business stability and continuity. 

The Buy Now Pay Later option ChargeAfter provides merchants would be seamlessly embedded in their checkout process. Meaning, Point of Sale Financing would be another payment option offered alongside traditional payment methods such as Visa, MasterCard, Paypal, and more. Once the consumer selects financing as an option, the entire process would take place on the merchants’ website without any redirects to a subdomain. Forrester reported that merchants who offer point of sale financing from a single lender have seen a 32% increase in sales, however, merchants who offer Buy Now Pay Later solutions from ChargeAfter, a multi-lender platform, have enjoyed a 45% increase in sales! Before signing up to offer a point of sale financing from both a single lender or a multi-lender provider, knowing the platforms’ average approval rates should be on the top of your due diligence. Single lenders only focus on approving the top 35% of consumers with pristine credit which means they’re declining 70% of consumers who apply for financing at checkout which leads to increased site abandonments, cart abandonments, and your rejected potential consumers ending up completing their purchase by your competitor. 

When merchants meet consumers halfway by offering Buy Now Pay Later financing options, it enables a stronger relationship, and consumers are more likely to become returning shoppers due to the choice and flexibility being offered. At ChargeAfter our goal is to help your business thrive even through challenging economic conditions.