NEW YORK — ChargeAfter, a consumer financing supplier for retailers and financial institutions, has released its 2024 Point-of-Sale Financing: Key Trends and Retailer Insights report, finding that approval rates are declining and financing plays a crucial role in driving sales revenue.
Surveying 100 retailers across the country, the report notes that there is a more than 50% increase in the number of merchants reporting approval rates below 60%. Only 2% of merchants achieve approval rates above 80%, a sharp decline from last year’s 12%.
Sales are impacted by not meeting the needs of the entire customer base, according to the survey results, with only 1% of merchants strongly agreeing that they are meeting the needs of their customers across the credit spectrum.
More than three-fourths, 78%, of merchants identify point-of-sale financing as a strategic priority for the next 12 months. Top financing priorities include improving in-store capabilities (40%), improving customer journey (37%), optimizing financing data (36%) and expanding the lender portfolio (34%).
Technical and operational difficulties are the top challenges to retailers’ financing strategies, overshadowing issues such as approval rates. Primary issues are: compliance concerns (34%), lack of IT resources (30%) and security challenges (29%).
For more on ChargeAfter’s report, visit this web page.
The ChargeAfter report is based on an online survey of 100 participants conducted in May by Global Surveyz. The survey focused on retail and e-commerce for several industries, including more than one-fourth of the respondents from the furniture industry.