40% of adult consumers in the U.S. have a FICO score below 700, effectively leaving them out of the financial conversation. By offering Katapult’s lease-to-own platform as a lease-purchase option for your mattresses, you are helping to power the inclusion economy and enabling everyone, regardless of their financial situation.
People spend roughly one-third of their life sleeping, which makes a mattress one of the most important purchases consumers can make. However, mattresses are also personal and meant to last for years. Getting a quality one can be pricey.
Currently, 40% of U.S. consumers are unable to purchase items that cost $400 or more without financing options, due to cash flow issues. Quality mattresses average $1,000 or more, putting them out of reach for millions of consumers. On top of this, sky-high inflation is making almost all goods, including necessities such as food, gas, and rent, increasingly more expensive. That’s why more people, even those with six-figure incomes, are living paycheck to paycheck.
People with nonprime credit scores are being squeezed even tighter. These consumers have even greater difficulty paying for durable goods, such as mattresses and furniture, because they face another barrier: they are overlooked by traditional financing institutions and lack access to credit. Today, 40% of adult consumers in the U.S. have a FICO score below 700, effectively leaving them out of the financial conversation.
Just because some people have lower credit scores doesn’t make them any less deserving of a comfortable mattress. Savvy merchants have begun to realize that they leave significant revenue on the table by not recognizing the purchasing power of this often-overlooked customer segment, and by not offering them flexible and affordable payment options that enable these consumers to buy the goods they need.
Katapult, the leading lease-to-own provider that integrates with major omnichannel platforms across industries including mattresses, empowers nonprime customers to purchase the items that they need through a modern and transparent lease-to-own model. By offering Katapult’s lease-to-own platform as a lease-purchase option for your mattresses, you are helping to power the inclusion economy and enabling everyone, regardless of their financial situation, to obtain durable goods.
According to research conducted by Katapult in partnership with PYMNTS.com, as many as 46 million new consumers may be motivated to try lease-to-own options when participating retailers offer them. What’s more, lease-to-own customers have high repeat purchase rates and tend to be more satisfied with their purchases. Merchants offering this alternative payment solution also typically see a substantial increase in both conversion rates and average order value.
Katapult also seamlessly merges with existing point of sales systems and platforms, and there is no additional equipment required from merchants for set-up and maintenance. Plus, Katapult takes on the associated risk – it purchases the item from the merchant and funds the merchant as early as the next business day. The customer then makes regular lease payments to Katapult for the item they’ve obtained. Additionally, a customer can always choose to return their lease-purchased goods with no further obligation to Katapult. Plus, Katapult is there to support merchants every step of the way via cross promotions, digital marketing, and multichannel campaigns.
At the same time, Katapult is easy for customers to use. Unlike lease-to-own models from other companies, Katapult is simple, quick, and transparent. The process is straightforward, the initial payments are low, due dates are flexible, and the application takes seconds to complete. In fact, approximately one-quarter of consumers stated they would buy more durable goods next year if lease-to-own options were available from traditional retailers.
Offering consumers flexible lease-to-own payment options is not only the right thing to do to increase financial access, but it’s also smart business for merchants. Every person deserves choice, access to high-quality goods, and the ability to buy a comfortable mattress – quite literally where dreams are made! Most importantly, lease-to-own can open up a loyal customer segment and incremental revenue stream. Sweet dreams, indeed!
