How Sports Retailers Can Get Ahead With Checkout Finance

Sports, and active sports in particular, continue to be big business. According to Statista, the Sports Equipment market is expected to grow annually by 3.28%, rising from US$3.45 billion in revenue (2022) to be worth an estimated US$4.13 billion by 2027.

Competition is fierce and sports retailers face the same challenges as other high-ticket businesses. How do you increase your sales? Combat cart abandonment? Boost customer loyalty? 

Integrating checkout finance for sports equipment might just be the answer you’re looking for, offering key business benefits sports retailers might not have considered.

What is checkout finance?

Checkout finance (aka retail finance or Buy Now Pay Later) refers to providing customers with financing solutions at the point of sale, whether that’s online or in-store (or both). Instead of paying the full amount of a purchase upfront, it offers customers instant and convenient access to flexible finance options that spread the cost over a longer period of time, often fee and interest free.

This option is particularly beneficial for customers who are purchasing sports equipment, as these items can often have a higher price tag. A set of new Callaway Warbird golf clubs, for example, has a price tag upwards of £800. A NordicTrack treadmill costs north of £1,000, while a home gym can put a £5,000+ dent in a customer’s wallet.

Checkout finance for sports equipment makes all of these things more accessible for customers. By reducing  the upfront payment, the customer’s budget stretches further.

They’ll likely add a new golf bag to their basket to go with their new clubs; a new smart-watch with their treadmill, or a set of dumbells for the home gym, when using checkout finance. That means higher average order values for you, the sports retailer.

Checkout finance also makes the customer more likely to complete their purchase. In fact, merchants see a reduction in cart abandonment and a 20% uplift in sales revenue.

Checkout finance for sports retailers

A leading sports retailer had the idea to implement a new checkout finance programme to make the cost of e-bikes manageable for their customers.

With a quick integration and the opportunity to whitelabel the consumer journey, the Divido platform promised to allow this retailer to offer customers 0% APR monthly repayments on purchases split over 36 months. With this, a new customer could purchase top-of-the-line £6,000 sports equipment paying back just £167 a month.

Implementing the ready-to-go Divido platform allowed the retailer to launch fast, with finance schemes implemented both in-store and online – all in time for their peak sales window. And our award-winning platform helped customers to apply for finance in only a matter of minutes, helping them to complete their purchasing journeys with low friction.

Divido’s checkout finance platform helped this sports retailer to significantly increase sales in the first year, with the volume of sales increasing instantly. Their new programme has also opened up sales to younger customers who previously could not afford the products. This has helped to introduce their brand to an entirely new market.

Get ahead of the competition with Divido

Divido is the platform that delivers lenders and merchants their own white labelled checkout finance solutions.

Clients receive the best of both: customer-centric journeys that build trust and convert more sales, and flexible access to competitive finance options from Divido’s lender network.

Sports retailers can now also grow their sales across Europe by adding checkout finance to all their points of sale with a single, seamless solution from Divido.

Only one integration is needed, saving months of engineering work, while maintaining your solution is simple with automation tools, website plugins and the Divido Merchant Portal. Thanks to Divido’s network of leading lenders and banks, retailers can enter new countries, including Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania and the UK, fast and with confidence.

Want to learn more about retail finance?

Divido’s latest white paper offers never-before-seen insights into the world of checkout finance. Understand how and why customers are flocking to this form of payment, with real statistics backed up by our survey of British consumers.

Download your free copy here: