Retailers are constantly faced with the challenge of providing an exceptional shopping experience. For some retailers, particularly those selling big-ticket items, even the best experience can be spoiled at checkout — particularly if the right payment options aren’t available.
Jomashop, an online retailer that sells luxury goods and watches priced at up to $70,000, sought a way to offer its customers a solution that made them comfortable with spending big bucks. The retailer partnered with Affirm, a financial services company, to provide shoppers with a payment method that allowed them to pay for an item over time.
“Before integrating Affirm, Jomashop offered all the standard payment methods: credit, debit, PayPal and Checkout by Amazon,” said Osher Karnowsky, General Manager of Jomashop in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “But we also wanted to offer a payment method that gives our customers the opportunity to buy something they really want, but can’t lay out all the money for at once. For them, paying over several months at reasonable interest rates is very attractive.”
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After partnering with Affirm, Jomashop experienced impressive results, including:
• A 200% increase in Average Order Value; and
• A 7% improvement in sales conversion rates.
The Affirm solution provides Jomashop customers with the tools they need to pay for purchases based on their own budgets, and even prevents them from buying more than they can pay for. Upon checkout, customers are given a clear view of interest costs and monthly payments.
“Almost immediately we did a very nice amount of business through Affirm,” said Karnowsky. “We were a bit surprised, honestly. They told us what to expect. But we didn’t really think people would adopt it quite so quickly.”
Prior to the integration, Karnowsky said the retailer searched for the “right payment partner for some time.” It was the Affirm solution’s simplicity, transparency and honesty that made them sign on the dotted line. “Affirm’s robust underwriting process is designed to prevent shoppers from purchasing more than they can pay for, and interest costs and monthly payments are very clearly spelled out to shoppers before they transact so they can make an educated decision whether to pay using Affirm,” he said.
Through Affirm, Jomashop provides customers with fixed installment payments over three, six or 12 months, with rates from 10% to 30% APR. The retailer is now exploring multiple payment options with Affirm’s new Multiple Financing Programs.
“Affirm makes our customers feel comfortable about buying something that has a higher price tag,” said Karnowsky. “It’s just common sense. It’s good for our business, but even better for our customers because they’re getting something they love that would have been harder to obtain in the past. And all in a responsible way.”
