Ride it away finance applications up 30%
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
With the latest research from Moneyfacts.co.uk showing that the average purchase rate (APR) across the credit card market has hit an all-time high of 21.6% APR, it's never been more important to give customers an alternative way to fund the cost of purchases.
Despite high APRs, borrowing rose by 9.1% in the 12 months to January - the biggest annual increase for a decade, suggesting consumer confidence and demand for credit is growing.
If you aren't offering your customers the chance to buy on finance you could be missing out on a huge share of the growing consumer credit market - now worth £130bn.
Offering credit is proven to boost sales for retailers, with 30% of customers spending more than they normally would have done, had finance not been available and 58% of customers delaying their purchase or not making a purchase at all, if finance weren't available.
Increased applications
In the cycles market, the Ride it away scheme reported a significant rise in the number of finance applications. So far in 2016, applications are up 30% like-for-like vs. 2015.
Retail finance is possibly the easiest and cheapest form of promotion a retailer can implement. It really can be as simple as putting a swing ticket on a product.
With four different APRs to choose from, payment terms from 6 to 48 months and flexible deposits, finance offers far more flexibility than other promotional offers at a lower cost to the business. Whilst 0% is the most popular option for consumers (with 75% saying they would decide where to shop based on whether 0% is available), 57% of consumers make a purchase purely because finance is available, regardless of the APR.
Finance at no cost
By Q4 of 2015, interest bearing options regularly accounted for 20% of all Ride it away sales. Offering interest bearing finance makes larger purchases of bikes and accessories more affordable for the customer and reduces the cost to the retailer. At 15.9% APR, customers get a considerably lower rate than the standard 20%+ rates offered by many credit cards and it carries NO COST to the retailer over 24, 36 or 48 months!
Ride it away is available from over 800 retailers across the UK, both in-store and online. In fact, since 2016, web applications now account for more purchases on finance than in-store through Ride it away.
Integration with your e-commerce site is easy, giving customers the opportunity to purchase on finance 24/7 with a quick and simple paperless online application process. If you don't already have an e-commerce site i-BikeShop, designed to be fully integrated with Ride it away retail finance and with half price set-up for any new Standard or Premium site - saving you £125 - is the perfect solution.
What Next?
- If you're interested in becoming a Ride it away dealer, click here to find out more or contact us.
- If you're a Ride it away retailer, contact us to find out how you can make more of finance in store.
- Click here to order your Ride it away POS now and start making the most of retail finance.