In-House Payment Options for Merchants: Time for a New Look

Beginning in the early days of layaway plans, store credit recorded in a spiral notebook, and payday payments, merchants have always found it in their interests to help customers discover easier ways to buy, with the hope that credit and convenience would engender loyalty and bigger purchases. 

With credit and convenience also comes the risk of non-payment by some customers, and merchants over the years have had mixed results in building a payments business that stands strong with their primary business of selling merchandise. Several fintechs have brought products to market designed to help merchants enable customer purchases without the operational overhead and credit risk, while select retailers like Walmart have doubled down and reinvested in a productized payments offering for their customers. 

Key questions discussed in this report:

• What credit options should merchants offer to customers?
• Is in-house credit worth the effort?
• Does offering credit make more sense for certain types of merchants?
• How important is the role that payments play in helping a merchant attract customers and drive loyalty?  

Companies Mentioned:

Affirm, Amazon, Bread Financial, Chime, Citicorp, Cross Check, Dave, Klarna, Mastercard, Starbucks, Synchrony, Target, Visa, Walmart, Worldpay