Amazon partners with Synchrony to offer a secured credit card to those who have a low credit score. Normally, a low credit score results in a rejection of a credit card application at a financial institution due to default concern; which, in some real-life cases, can lead to significant trouble. With the Amazon Secured Credit Card, potential customers put in an amount of money that serves as collateral and their credit limit. Customers then gradually build up credit profile by being financially responsible before graduating to a better credit card.
I think it’s smart of Amazon to implement this initiative
They can tap in a new customer segment
It’s hard to imagine that folks with low customer score can be Prime members and Amazon’s profitable segment. Yet, after years of exploiting the higher customer tier, Amazon will likely need to widen the customer pool for growth and more than 11% of the population in the US is a sizable segment to appeal to.
This will increase switching costs and customer loyalty
Amazon Secured Credit Card comes with 5% cash back on purchases like the ordinary Store Card. A pretty competitive cash back rate on every purchases. Convenience, a variety of choices and generous cash back can definitely encourage purchases on the Seattle-based company’s website.
More customers and purchases mean more vendors and advertisers
Vendors who wish to appeal to low-credit-score customers will want to get on the e-commerce platform if there is enough demand. Advertisers will be willing to pay to put their products, services or brands in front of the new customer segment, in addition to the existing customer base.
Minh Quang Duong 