Ozon started selling in installments

On October 3, online retailer Ozon launched in a test mode the sale of goods in installments. The company provides lending without the help of banks, writes . Vedomosti

Details

• Ozon will provide users of the mobile application with a limit of 3,500 to 300,000 rubles for six months. Interest will not be charged for using the loan, Nikita Saigutin, vice president for digital financial services of the company, assured. At the same time, the cost of some goods will increase by 7% for all buyers.
• To issue loans, Ozon will independently do the scoring of the buyer. The company's specialists will study the dynamics of the client's purchases, data from the Federal Bailiff Service and the credit bureau. If the client does not return the money within six months of delay, Ozon will sue. Then the client will have to pay an additional fine of 30% of the debt amount (this is provided for by the contract). The company also mentioned that for some complex cases, the company may involve collectors.
• Ozon will independently provide installment plans only to its regular customers, and partner services will work with new customers for which the company does not have data for scoring.
• Due to the installment plan, the company plans to increase turnover up to 10% in some categories.

Like now. Stores provide installment plans with the help of banks: customers are either issued a credit card with a zero rate (partner stores pay a commission to the bank), or the store gives a discount on goods equal to the amount of interest on the loan. As a result, the amount of the loan, together with interest on it, does not exceed the originally declared price of the goods. When lending by the store itself, a person will overpay about 20%, says Andrey Pavlov, vice president of the Post Bank. The main difficulty of the model is that the retailer cannot qualitatively assess the solvency of the client, and then collect debts.

What's next. Not only Ozon is thinking about lending to its customers without involving banks. Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, is also considering a similar possibility, says Vladimir Bakin, head of the company's financial service.

Why is it important. Installment really increases the average check and the number of sales, says Artem Sokolov, president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies. This is confirmed by the Obuv Rossii company, which already has its own credit system: almost half of the purchases in the store (40-45%) are made using installments, and the average check is 2-3 times higher than the check for a traditional purchase. For 10 years, more than 1.3 million people have used the service, Obuv Rossii said.

Context. Due to the decline in real incomes of the population, loans are beginning to be issued even for groceries and essential goods: in June, the Perekrestok network announced the issuance of a digital installment card that will allow “make purchases on credit with a grace period.” At the same time, the number of overdue loans in Russia is increasing: compared to 2014, overdue debt on consumer loans increased by 140%, and on credit cards - by 30%. Read more about what is happening in the lending market in Russia and whether we have a "bubble", The Bell wrote here .