These are tough times for retail, both online and in-store, as retailers grapple with a shaky economy and the fact that at least some consumers are cutting back on spending.
Max Rieck, CFO of Versatile Credit; Chris Guido, head of TD-owned brands, sponsorships and emerging opportunities for TD Retail Card Services; and Chad Evans, vice president of merchandising at AVB Marketing, told PYMNTSTV that leveraging embedded financing — and the partners who deliver it — can help businesses weather macroeconomic storms and even thrive.
Evans said many independent retailers are “stretched pretty thin.” They don’t have the technology capabilities. knowor budget, completely new Backend and Consumer Initiatives that help increase sales and profits, such as offering financing options at the point of sale.
Evans said his company is a so-calledOne-stop A “shop” that caters to the technology and marketing needs of businesses.
“They can come to our organization,” Evans says, “and we can assist them with marketing, from video content to online catalogs… and then we layer on technology to provide solutions like consumer financing to make the transaction easier.” [for consumers] And what keeps companies profitable?”
White label benefits
Finally, to consolidate its financingAVB is affiliated TD has partnered with Versatile Credit to offer AVB Complete, a consumer lending program. The program leverages TD’s omnichannel waterfall application processing platform and provides access to financing options from multiple lenders via TD Complete. This is enabled by Versatile Credit’s lending solutions, Corporate level Shops and financial institutions including TD.
“At the end of the day, lending programs need to be an extension of the business, and we need to work together to help retailers grow their businesses,” Guido said.
Leake said:and With embedded lending, we can meet merchants where they are,” he said, because these lending options can be integrated into customer relationship management (CRM), point-of-sale systems and inventory management. Leake noted that the expertise is delivered in an “off-the-shelf” way, so “merchants can quickly join our lender stack and serve the needs of prime and near-prime consumers.” and Subprime Credit Spectrum.
Evans said of the partnership’s efforts: “It reduces friction between retailers, consumers and, in our case, financing. … Retailers are fully supportive of introducing a platform that gives them the option to reduce that friction.”
Beyond improving consumer engagement, Leake said the platform and partnerships will help retailers understand who is buying what in-store and online, and how they are using credit. Multi-location businesses can use granular data-driven insights to: Tweak performance of those locations.
Additionally, Evans said average ticket prices will rise, customers will return and have a line of credit to re-engage with merchants, and AVB will be able to do lifecycle marketing. same The “capability” of large corporations to provide embedded financing.
Evans told the panel: “you New customers that could not be reached before, can do With more options, trading becomes more efficient.”
Leak added: “Embedded lending allows for a relatively frictionless process, increasing sales and driving further business.”
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