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Rent-A-Center and Preferred Dynamix Launch New Platform to Help Unbanked and Underbanked

Furniture World News Desk on 11/19/2020


Rent-A-Center, Inc. recently announced the launch of a new platform to unlock shopping power and choice for underserved consumers. The new platform is from Preferred Dynamix, a lease-to-own (LTO) fintech company and business of Rent-A-Center, Inc. It will include a mobile application and marketplace to empower unbanked and underbanked consumers with more financial freedom. At the same time, the platform will enable retailers and consumer brands to access an extensive customer base for LTO to drive incremental sales in this unprecedented business environment.  

Preferred Dynamix and its set of solutions, including the Preferred Lease arm, unlock the shopping power and choice for underserved consumers. Today, according to The Federal Reserve, more than 60 million Americans are considered unbanked or underbanked. These consumers do not have access to traditional financing or a trusted digital ecosystem to shop for the items they want when they want them. Preferred Dynamix’s proprietary digital platform leverages new decisioning technology and a portfolio of new lease-to-own solutions to expand the ways that consumers and retailers transact.

“Throughout 2020, we have seen dramatic increases in consumer demand for frictionless, virtual retail shopping experiences,” said Mitch Fadel, Chief Executive Officer, Rent-A-Center. “The new Preferred Dynamix business is uniquely positioned to connect a significant market of potential shoppers to the retail opportunities they desire through our proprietary mobile and online LTO solutions.”

 

  • Preferred Digital™ is the mobile application, released first in a stream of features and functions to hit the market, facilitating LTO transactions on a broad scale across participating retailers. Consumers can download the application today in Apple’s App Store or Google Play and, if eligible, get approved in as few as 30 seconds to receive access to up to $4,000 in shopping power that Preferred Dynamix will apply toward purchasing eligible consumer goods from a variety of retailers. Preferred Dynamix will then lease the selected goods to the consumers under a flexible LTO transaction.

  • Preferred Marketplace™, when launched, is planned to be one of the largest integrated e-commerce platforms for LTO transactions that enable consumers to select the items they want from any U.S. retailers – beyond Preferred Dynamix’s eligible retail partners - and lease them from Preferred Dynamix without needing to complete the transaction on the individual retailer’s website.

 

“We want to eliminate the hurdles and level the playing field for unbanked and underbanked consumers and change the relationship they have with the household, electronic, and everyday items they want most. This large segment of our society has long desired more flexibility and options when they shop but haven’t had the right digital solutions, decisioning technology, and level of shopping power that match their needs and circumstances,” said Jason Hogg, Executive Vice President, Preferred Dynamix. “Preferred Dynamix is meeting a need that will ultimately create a stronger, more trusted shopping relationship between consumer and retailer that simplifies the transactional experience for consumers, reduces the upfront risk for retailers, and allows the consumer to obtain access to the high quality desired items under a LTO transaction.”

Preferred Dynamix has launched an innovation partner program to pilot the digital platform and begin collaborating to develop additional proprietary capabilities to create a more frictionless end-to-end transaction experience across channels. These retailers are increasingly looking for new mechanisms to attract previously out of reach customer segments who could not access traditional financing options. Retailers now have a digital, LTO offering to increase their sales volume in the face of declining foot traffic due to the pandemic and have a significant impact on their bottom lines. Pilot retailers include Ashley HomeStore, American Tire Distributors, Value City Furniture, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Conn’s HomePlus, Rooms To Go, and Electronic Express.

"At Conn’s HomePlus, we are focused on continuous improvement of the customer service experience.  By teaming up with Preferred Lease and their new Preferred Dynamix platform, we can streamline the experience of both our banked and unbanked customers to receive virtual leases on our hundreds of products, from home entertainment to furniture and appliances,” said Norm Miller, Conn's Chairman and CEO. “As technology continues to evolve, we are committed to offering easy-to-access and simplified shopping solutions for all of our customers, positively impacting the communities we serve.”

“At Value City Furniture, we believe everyone has the right to a well-furnished life, and we strive to offer a diverse set of financial solutions that meet the needs of all of our customers. Preferred Dynamix offers an LTO solution that a growing share of our customer’s want, and their new mobile application is making the approval process quick and easy,” said Hadley Hatch, Head of Finance Marketing, Value City Furniture. “Additionally, this new technology allows for a contactless in-store application experience, which is more imperative today than ever before. Preferred Dynamix identified this as a growing customer need and invested in the innovation necessary to address this behavioral change. As always, we truly appreciate the cutting-edge technology that Preferred Dynamix brings to our business.”

For more information about the Preferred Dynamix platform, please visit www.preferreddynamix.com.

 

About Rent-A-Center, Inc.: Rent-A-Center, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCII) is an industry leading omni-channel lease-to-own provider for the credit constrained customer. The Company focuses on improving the quality of life for its customers by providing access and the opportunity to obtain ownership of high-quality, durable products via small payments over time under a flexible lease-purchase agreement and no long-term debt obligation. Preferred Lease provides virtual and staffed lease-to-own solutions to retail partners in stores and online enabling our partners to grow sales by expanding their customer base utilizing our differentiated offering. The Rent-A-Center Business and Mexico segments provide lease-to-own options on products such as furniture, appliances, consumer electronics, and computers in approximately 2,000 Rent-A-Center stores in the United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico and on its e-commerce platform, Rentacenter.com. The Franchising segment is a national franchiser of approximately 400 franchise locations. Rent-A-Center is headquartered in Plano, Texas. For more information, visit Rentacenter.com or Investor.rentacenter.com.