Online loan service in online stores CONPAY.RU completes testing

Exactly one year after the start of work on the project, we are pleased to inform Habrahabr readers and our clients that the open testing phase has been completed, and we are launching the online lending service CONPAY.RU .

During the past 12 months, we have managed to resolve many contradictions, correct a number of significant errors and create a competent business model for organizing effective interaction between the store, the borrower and the bank. Some interesting details under the cut.

Origins

First we need to briefly say why the team and I believed in this project and decided to invest in it:
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• First, we saw a huge growth potential in the e-commerce market in the regions. That is why we created a service that can be used by stores throughout the Russian Federation.
• Secondly, we were aware of a significant increase in competition in the consumer lending market at the point of sale (the so-called POS loan, from the English. Point of Sale), which forces banks to look for alternative distribution channels for their products.
• Thirdly, we had experience in developing SAAS products, as well as an understanding of their relevance for e-commerce projects, where efficiency and success directly depend on the level and quality of business process automation.
• And finally, in the fourth, we wanted to create a really useful and necessary for the user, high-quality product of our own production, where only we would be responsible for everything, and only we (the team) would own it.

Development

From the very beginning, we constantly heard that it is impossible in principle to create such a service in the existing domestic realities. The reasons for this were very different: starting with the low level of development of the logistics infrastructure and ending with conservatism and bureaucracy in Russian banks.

But, as you know, there are no problems in the world - there are only situations. And each time we found ourselves face to face with such situations in an unequal battle, and each time, oddly enough, we won, always getting, if not a solution, then additional experience and understanding of the market.

When we had direct competitors, and moreover, when they began to successfully attract investment, we no longer doubted the correctness of our decisions. It is important to note here that the need for substantial investment appears only when the main processes are not automated and require constant cash infusions.

We, from the very beginning of the design, sought to make an online service out of our project, and not a bulky and clumsy money pumping machine. We sought to automate everything that is possible. Due to this, for example, any online store can connect to our service and start selling on credit altogether without any actions from managers or developers of Credit Online PS LLC.

Technology

In order for our service to be really useful not only for the bank and the store, but also for the buyer, we have developed several unique modules that significantly improve the efficiency of the service.

• Firstly, this is the script of the “buy on credit” button itself, which is easily integrated into the CMS of the store and provides data exchange between the store and the service. Once this code is installed on the website, the store owner can manage his account from his personal account without having to edit the code.
• Secondly, it is a loan calculator with an intelligent selection of loan products for a variety of parameters (first installment, price of goods, loan period, product category, etc.). The loan calculator allows us to offer the buyer only those loan products that will be most profitable and convenient, based on the requirements predetermined for them.
• Thirdly, this is a personal account of the store, where all actions of customers performed on the store's website, including customer contact information and statistics on goods, are displayed in a convenient and visual form.
• And finally, fourthly, this is the personal account of the buyer, where purchases and loan applications are also displayed in a convenient and visual form. Thanks to the personal account of the buyer, there is no need to fill out a long questionnaire with each application. In addition, in your account, you can cancel a loan application or send it to several banks at once.

Difficulties

Of course, this year was not without difficulties. And despite the fact that already on October 1 we are leaving the test mode, I cannot say that we have coped with all of them. Nevertheless, we are ready to work on them and strive to make the service as reliable, efficient and convenient as possible for buyers and for stores.

The main difficulties that we had to face, oddly enough, are not at all connected with the Internet or with information technology in general. Our main difficulties, as always, are the two main ills of our beloved fatherland: fools and roads. And if you abandon the deliberate use of colloquial expressions: performers and logistics.

Performers

We can organize work with any of the banks that issue consumer loans and credits at points of sale. Moreover, we would like to work with as many banks as possible in order to offer the buyer a wide choice of credit products and the opportunity to choose the most profitable of them.

However, at the moment, only three banks are connected to our service. And with only two of them, the process of approving an application and concluding contracts has been brought to full automatism. I personally think that this is very small, especially considering the level of development of consumer lending in retail.

Why is this so? Because the people responsible for this referral in other banks do not know about us? No, it is not. Anyone who is somehow connected with the topic of online lending has long been well aware of the existence of our service. The question of why they do not want to work with a network of 182 stores registered on CONPAY.RU at the moment is hanging in the air and none of us can answer it yet.

Logistics

According to our estimates, the underdevelopment of the logistics infrastructure is one of the main factors hindering the development of e-commerce in Russia. This problem is connected with the fact that Russia is the largest country in the world by area, and the fact that you can only get to other places on the bulldozer, and with the well-known quality of the work of the Russian Post and similar services. There are a lot of reasons, but the result is the same - we cannot offer the customer a service of a European level, where delivery is always always on time.

The trouble is that in addition to the goods, we need to deliver the loan agreement to the buyer, and the courier, among other things, must be accredited by the Bank to check the passport details of the buyer and execute the contract. In order to be able to send couriers with contracts throughout Russia, we need a very developed logistics infrastructure.

We work in this direction, attracting courier services and freight companies to cooperation, but not all of them see our service as a competitive advantage for their customers or expose too high rates.

Summary

Nevertheless, despite the many problems and difficulties, we managed to debug the system and exit Beta. We have been working on this project for a whole year and we hope that our service will be useful both to customers, and banks and shops.

In conclusion, I would like to say how much work we will have to do in the future. We do not build Napoleonic plans, since we have very limited "production" resources, however, among our ideas there are many new and interesting things, namely:

• Creating an editor of credit products in the personal account of the online store
• Creating a loan condition management module for borrowers
• Integration of payment instruments to repay a loan in your account

Thank you all for your attention and interest in our project. As always, we are waiting for useful and constructive comments from the community.