Shopping and the holidays go hand in hand. It’s a proud tradition to shop for our loved ones and friends this time of year, and that means a whole lot of customers visiting retail stores like yours to make purchases. It’s a big time for sales, and if you’re going to capitalize on those sales to the greatest extent possible, you need to have a consumer finance program in place. Now, let’s explore why consumer financing is so important to retail businesses during the holiday season.
Extra Expenses Mean Tighter Budgets
The holidays are disruptive to schedules and routines—often in a good way, but disruptive nonetheless. They are also disruptive to budgets. Many consumers budget their spending on a month-to-month basis, taking into account recurring bills and other expenses. The holidays complicate this equation by adding extraordinary costs on top of the usual ones: gifts, travel, food and beverages for special occasions, and so much more.
So what does this mean for your customers’ bottom line? It’s simple: they have less money to spend. At the same time, they feel the need to spend more money, to ensure they are able to make the most of the holidays with the people they care about, including giving amazing gifts, making sure their homes are ready for company by purchasing new furniture and furnishings, buying electronics for entertaining, and more.
To avoid breaking the bank with theses added purchases, many shoppers rely on financing. If you don’t offer a financing program—or if your financing program is not up to snuff—you’re going to miss out on sales. Your customers won’t be dissuaded from making a purchase if you lack a consumer financing program—they’ll just go and make that purchase somewhere else.
By the same token, if you make it difficult for your customers to get the financing they need, it will likely result in lost sales. In other words, offering a customer-friendly consumer financing program will make your clients happy and boost your sales.
Keep Things Moving This Holiday Season
So, let’s say you already have a customer financing program in place. Now it’s time to take it up a notch, and eliminate all the hassle and inconvenience for your customers and employees.
That’s where FormPiper comes in. This consumer financing automation solution makes it easy for customers to get the financing they need by making it simple for you to run all lenders every time. In basic terms, FormPiper makes it so you only have to fill out a single application. You’ll then transmit that application to all lenders with a single click. And with FormPiper Managed Services, the entire process is handled for you, so you can focus on running your business.
It’s worth exploring for any retailer looking to smooth out and simplify their consumer financing process. It will help you boost your revenue, and help you assist as many customers as possible during the busy holiday season. With greater efficiency and the ability to easily run every lender for every customer, you’ll see exactly how effective a strong consumer financing program can be during the holidays. Don’t miss out on a great sales opportunity—make consumer financing a big part of your seasonal retail plan.