Omnichannel electronics retailer Croma has partnered with Innoviti Payment Solutions, introducing Innoviti’s G.E.N.I.E technology across their stores enabling zero-cost EMI on purchase of any in-store product. Innoviti is India’s largest provider of payment solutions to enterprise merchants.

During the festive season, G.E.N.I. E’s zero-cost EMIs enabled Croma to help consumers make purchases by providing them access to credit that can be repaid in convenient EMIs without any interest charges, even on accessories and products traditionally not available on EMIs. Croma recorded Same Store Sales Growth (SSSG) ranging between 11% – 18% across all their stores with the help of the G.E.N.I.E EMI wallet.

An analysis of transactions done across all Croma stores revealed that the South region recorded the highest no. of EMI transactions at 44% of zero-cost EMIs vs. all other regions. Interestingly, G.E.N.I.E zero-cost EMIs also helped boost sales of products from non-traditional categories such as hard disks & computer accessories, water purifiers, air fryers and DSLR cameras. Festive gifting segment also saw an uptake with zero-cost EMIs increasingly being availed on coffee makers, premium grinder & mixers, and microwave ovens.

In addition to laptops and mobiles, premium wearable devices saw resurgence with G.E.N.I.E zero-cost EMIs. In laptops category, Lenovo products saw higher EMI sales followed by Dell and HP. Sale of Mac Books on zero-cost EMIs however didn’t surge. In mobile phones category, Samsung & OnePlus were equally the most sought-after brands. Xiaomi TV was one of the biggest highlights of the festive season across zones. Audio devices on EMIs also saw an uptake as BOSE, Marshal, Harman, Jabra, and Saregama Caravan were purchased using No cost EMI offering.

G.E.N.I.E tech was earlier rolled out by Innoviti at all Croma outlets across 60+ major cities pan India. With G.E.N.I.E, customers of Croma are accessing 3 & 6 months zero-cost EMI on all debit and credit cards across Croma outlets on their purchases of above Rs 3,000 on credit cards and Rs 5,000 on debit cards on 2,000+ products in Croma outlets until December 31, 2021. For Example, if customer buys a gadget for Rs 30,000 and avails no cost EMI scheme, they will pay Rs 5,000 every month for 6 months. During the offer period, Croma expects to see an increase in the current average ticket size by 30%.

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Innoviti uses payment technology in unconventional ways to turn payment transactions into customer acquisition and retention tools for merchants, banks, and brands, by bringing them on to a common platform, and helping them deliver unique customer experiences. Each business gets access to 3X loyal consumers at 1/3rd the cost, accelerating sales with unmatched efficiencies.

“With work from home trends continuing, and the increase in demand for ‘smart’ devices amongst customers, the festive period saw a substantial uptake in sales. There was also a pent up demand for gadgets and home appliances, which culminated during festive, making this one of the most successful seasons. As people move towards upgrading their homes, demand for larger TVs, second AC, smarter refrigerator, gaming laptops as well goes up, leading to larger ticket size purchases and thus making people opt for easy finance options. This is where the zero-cost EMI offers from Innoviti’s G.E.N.I.E helped customers, it allowed for purchase of premium gadgets without it pinching their pockets,” said Shibashish Roy, Chief Business Officer – eCommerce & Marketing, Croma.

Hemant Taware, Chief Business Officer, Merchant Ecosystem Development, Innoviti Payment Solutions said, “At Innoviti, we are always looking at new ways to help our merchant partners leverage more from payments and enhance the consumers’ shopping experience. We are glad to have introduced G.E.N.I.E technology at Croma stores and aid their sales efforts this festive season. We are delighted by the fact that several Croma’s customers have made aspirational purchases this festive season in productivity, entertainment and home appliances categories using Innoviti’s G.E.N.I.E zero-cost EMIs.”

With rapid growth in its business, the company today processes an annualized volume of US$16 billion from 2,000+ cities. Innoviti has grown rapidly in the past year as leading enterprises chose Innoviti as their partner for their future growth. With a sharply segmented product strategy for each category of retail, Innoviti today is a leader in enterprise offline merchants in the food, fashion, healthcare and electronics categories, processing 76% of all digital payment volume happening there.

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