Kevin Lawrence, VP, Sales and Marketing Big ticket retailers frequently feel the need to offer in-store finance to customers to purchase goods and services. It gets complicated as customers are reluctant to fill out paper for credit applications and hesitate to reveal personal information to strangers. Also, the process of filling in the application can be highly time-consuming for employees. To avoid this as well as ease customer discomfort, Versatile Credit placed a winning wager on the rapidly increasing use of self-service kiosks. The result was a single kiosk allowing customers to privately apply for in-store financing. Offering a managed service consisting of lending partners, software and services, hardware, and engaging visual content, Versatile Credit is committed to enhance the consumer credit application experience.
“Versatile Credit was born of the union of secure data processing and digital signage, which had earlier existed as two separate disciplines of the company,” says Kevin Lawrence, vice president, sales and marketing at Versatile Credit. “We don’t offer just a kiosk service, but a managed service consisting of beautiful kiosk hardware, bundled together with software, finance partner relationships and analytics, as well as digital marketing,” Lawrence elaborates. The kiosk can be used to promote sales or protection plans, while increasing credit applications and aid with other value-added services provided by the retailer. Customers are at ease with kiosks, as they enter personal information themselves and the transmission is carried out rapidly through a secure link. No sensitive data is stored on the kiosk.
With services offered across sectors like flooring, furniture, mattresses, automotive service and jewelry, the company’s chief differentiating factor lies in the ample choices it provides to retailers by integrating with 22 finance companies. The company’s newest and most affordable kiosk model is the Hive, which has a smaller footprint and provides a desk or sit-down facility and more private experience to users.
Our managed credit application service consists of the kiosk hardware, along with software, finance partner relationships, analytics and digital marketing
The Cumberland and Rockland are Versatile Credit’s floor-standing units with larger screens that can be strategically placed in retail outlets to attract and engage customers.
Versatile Credit also provides three categories of financing—primary financing that extends for a longer term, secondary financing with shorter promotional terms and no-credit-required providers for customers with varying options—all increasing the chances of getting customers the credit they want and need. This credit framework proved highly beneficial to Verlo Mattress, a leading retailer building its own mattresses and selling them through a nation-wide network of corporate-owned and licensed stores. The client was falling back on offering customer credit by retaining paper credit applications, which customers disapproved of as they required sharing personal information with staff. Also, the process was time-consuming and caused discomfort to staff having to share news of declined credit. This changed with the introduction of Versatile Credit’s touch-screen kiosks in Verlo Mattress retail outlets. They now offer customers a direct connection to primary lenders. Denied applications are passed on to the other providers. The kiosks provided a private experience that helped complete credit applications rapidly, while maintaining data security. Results are displayed in seconds. The efficient kiosks increased Verlo Mattress’s credit applications by over 228 percent from the previous year, reduced the number of declines and resulted in an average of 21 percent increase in credit sales.
Scripting similar success stories, Versatile Credit seeks to add more features to the kiosk, including protection and warranty plans. “We are introducing new elements to aid retailers in their application services and channel operations to increase the value proposition associated with the use of our kiosk platforms,” says Lawrence. With finance partners in the U.S., the company has aggressive plans for expansion into new markets segments.
