Is your company meeting the moment?

As a merchant, you most likely encounter customers who want your products, but because of their financial situation you simply can’t help them. And yes, there seems to be more and more who fall into this group these days. But hey, that’s just the nature of the business … right?

The thing is, it doesn’t have to be. Not when Acima and today’s technology can help you grow your business with advanced tools that allow you to meet these customers where they are.

The tough fact is this: Subprime customers (or those who are credit- and/or cash-strapped) exist — lots of them! About one in five American adults either have no credit history (aka “credit invisible”) or are unscorable.1 In addition, 40% of consumers have FICO scores lower than 700.2

For merchants, failing to offer this type of consumer other alternatives to financing could mean missing out on a giant opportunity to grow your customer base and your company’s profit margins in a way you may not have considered before now. The good news is that it’s easier than ever to do just that.

With Acima, It’s All Possible

The growing needs of financially challenged families and credit-card averse millennials have led to a new segment of the fintech industry — one that caters specifically to helping those who are unable or wish not to engage with the credit world. Technology, specifically point-of-sale leasing solutions like Acima, has helped provide solutions to consumers who do not wish to use credit or incur debt.

Now, many of these families and individuals can get approved immediately to shop for the things they need (especially essential items like tires, mattresses or refrigerators) right at the point of sale. They only need to provide the following to apply for a lease-to-own* transaction:

● An active checking account with at least $1,000 of income per month

● Three months of income history with their current source of income

● A government-issued photo ID and an SSN or Taxpayer Identification Number

Time to Rethink Lease-to-Own*

Although lease-to-own is becoming a bigger player in the current retail landscape, many merchants are still reluctant to provide it at the point of sale due to preconceived notions of the industry. If you’re one of those merchants, we’ve got great news that could change the course of your business.

Thanks to the fintech innovation and machine-learning described earlier, consumers can benefit from more choice, more convenience and faster application approvals than ever before through lease-to-own. At the same time, merchants can enjoy increased sales and average order sizes, a larger customer base, simple integration and easy-to-use technology platforms.

Let’s dig a little deeper into how Acima can help you provide an improved user experience and shopping power while saving the sale.

Improved Timelines and Increased Conversion

As recently as a dozen years ago, if a customer wanted retail financing, they would have to go to a separate location, fill out a printed-out application by hand, and discuss their debt-to-income ratio to see if they qualified. Then, they would wait a few days to find out if they were approved. The process was cumbersome, an annoyance for merchants and customers, and it threw a wrench in the sales process.

Today, the technology implemented by Acima has resulted in perhaps one of the biggest benefits of lease-to-own: a more streamlined application, shopping and checkout process. Instead of days, it now takes five minutes or less for an analytics engine to quickly identify and approve a customer’s applications for a lease-purchase agreement, so they can start shopping right away.

Keep Your Customers Coming Back.

Lease-to-own is a powerful alternative to financing that your customers can benefit from more than once. That’s because for many of them, lease-to-own is not a one-time, temporary solution. It’s a lifestyle — a way of staying ahead of credit card companies, avoiding credit card debt and taking their shopping power back.

That’s why, when you become an Acima partner, we’ll support your business through remarketing opportunities to drive repeat purchases and retain customers. Retailers expand their customer reach and following by having a 90-day purchase option (three months in CA). Once customers complete their leases, Acima continues marketing efforts to entice them to shop at the store again.

Create an Easy User Experience for Everyone

In addition to making it easy for customers to apply and be approved for a lease agreement, Acima provides customers with options to acquire ownership. If a customer completes all scheduled payments as detailed in their lease agreement or exercises an early purchase option, the merchandise is theirs to keep. The customer’s schedule for lease renewal payments can even be tailored to match the customer’s payroll dates. If the customer no longer wants to keep their merchandise, they can return it to Acima in good condition with no further obligation.

 On the merchant side, the experience is just as user-friendly. Acima provides merchants with a portal that is easily accessed online. The simple dashboard within this portal allows you to effortlessly create leases, track the status of customer approvals, funding amounts and other reports.

Solutions for Your Customers, Success for Your Business

In the United States, the annual size of the point-of-sale finance market is roughly $391 billion, or about 3.5% of annual consumer spending, according to a Filene Research estimate. Globally, that number is as much as $6 trillion.3 It’s also safe to say the online and digital checkout lines continue to get more and crowded.

Our point: By servicing more than 15,000 retailers, Acima alone has been able to serve more than an estimated 60 million unbanked or underbanked consumers in the United States at the point of sale with by offering alternative options to financing. Though lease-to-own has been around for a while, the technology Acima uses has taken it to another level, helping retailers right at the point of sale to offer options to subprime customers that were previously unreachable.

Whether you’re a small business or one of the nation’s largest chains, just think of the amazing growth opportunities you could be enjoying by providing your customers with everything Acima has to offer them. Learn more about how our lease-to-own solutions mean more merchant success, customers and satisfaction for all.