Crowdfunding for Retail
Whether you sell laptops, summer camp enrollment, class tuition, or anything else costing over a few-hundred dollars, there are many things you can do to help your customers pay for your product. You can offer payment plans, credit options, or you can try to rent the product out. But, all of these options put a significant stress on the buyer.
And, few people want to go into a relationship with you where they are going to owe you money, even if you give them the time to pay. This is why you might want to consider offering a more worry free option, the crowdfunding option
Crowdfunding, by definition, is requesting a crowd of people to donate a defined amount of money for a specific cause.
In the case of your product or your service, the request would be very straightforward:
Say you run an electronics store, and a client wanted to buy a laptop from you for their first semester of college, but they just couldn't afford it. Or, maybe you run a bridal shop, & someone wants a wedding dress out of their price range. It would be in your best interest and theirs to give another option to make payment. And that option could be crowdfunding.
So, how exactly would you do this?
From your website, you could make it easy for your clients to set up a request page, like this one, so that they can ask their family and friends to help them purchase the item you're selling.
Which crowdfunding service should you use? Well, you will want to start with one of the easiest to use platforms, from one of our sponsors, GoFundMe. In addition to a dead simple interface, they have the GoFundMe Partner Program that makes the deal of crowdfunding even sweeter.
By signing up for the GoFundMe Affiliate Program, GoFundMe lets you in on half of their commission. That's 2.5% of whatever is raised. What makes the deal extra sweet? Not only would you sell to someone who wouldn't usually be able to buy your product, but you could add that to your comission. In other words, if someone raised $1,000 to buy a laptop from your store through GoFundMe, you would make an extra $25.
This is interesting also because a Crowdfunding Affiliate Program is hard to find. Most crowdfunding sites do not offer the chance to refer people for a commision.
Want to get started? First thing's first, visit GoFundMe, and look at how people are raising money on the site. Then figure out the best way to recommend it to your clients. You can also contact GoFundMe if you need ideas.
What product would you want that you think your friends and family might help you buy? Let us know in the comments.