Business model of Cred ~ Business Plan, Revenue Model, SWOT Analysis

Introduction

CRED is a fintech startup that provides users with a platform to pay their credit dues, rent and other bills, all in one place while earning additional rewards for doing so on time. The Business model of Cred involves its business plan, revenue model, its competitors, SWOT Analysis and many more.

CRED: Success Story of Failure to enter Unicorn Startup

It is a credit-based ecosystem that provides a safe space for individual lenders and financial institutions to lend money to trustworthy individuals. It uses the creditworthiness of individuals in the form of their credit scores as a measure to filter the community. Then to retain customers, it rewards them in the form of CRED coins if they make timely payments through the platform. CRED and its investors are keen on building a user-based platform as they are focusing on long-term plans.

Business Plan

CRED allows you to handle your credit card range from a single location. CRED allows its users to pay their bills (any sort of bills including house rent) through this app. In return for these payments, CRED provides the users with CRED coins with each coin holding the value of rupee 1. CRED has a deep analyzing system that keeps the record of everything from overall expenses, and record loan caps to secret expenses. To prevent you from paying through the nose, it alerts you of all these things.

CRED has all access to its user’s mail identification to read and scan the receipts including due dates. CRED asks its users to pay the bill at least two days before the due date.

CRED has all your financial data and that’s where it utilizes this opportunity. It uses it to show you better results. Some institutions are always in the discovery of trustworthy customers. They gain the access to this financial data, banks, and credit card companies only by paying to the CRED.

Bringing businesses on board and forming tie-ups with them is imperative for CRED. The CRED app gives small and large businesses alike visibility as buyers of all types use it.

Revenue Model

The company is more inclined towards scaling and expanding its customer base before becoming more oriented towards profit generation. CRED has an enormous potential of generating revenues. CRED’s target audience is the 1% cream population and having data about their purchases and spending patterns helps it optimize advertisements to encourage more spending through the platform and earn commissions on sales of those products.

The introduction of P2P lending has led to lenders earning interest rates of around 9 percent and loans being disbursed at interest rates between 10 to 12%.

Competitors

The payment app industry is taking a speedy ride and everyone wants to make their fun out of it. The competitors to Cred are:

  • DigiByte
  • OrangePay
  • Copenhagen FinTech
  • Verifi

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

  • Strong brand recognition – CRED products have strong brand recognition in the Construction Services industry. This has enabled the company to charge a premium compare to its competitors in Construction Services industry.
  • Talent management – at CRED and skill development of the employees – Human resources are integral to the success of CRED in Construction Services industry.
  • First mover advantage – in the increasingly crowded market place. The new products are rapidly increasing CRED market share in the Construction Services industry.
  • Brands catering to different customers segments within Construction Services segment – CRED extensive product offerings have helped the company to penetrate different customer segments in Construction Services segment. It has also helped the organization to diversify revenue streams.
  • Diverse Revenue models – Over the years CRED has ventured into various businesses outside the Capital Goods sector. This has enabled the company do develop a diversified revenue stream beyond Capital Goods sector and Construction Services segment.
  • Track record of innovation – Even though most players in the Capital Goods strive to innovate, CRED has successful record at consumer driven innovation.

Weaknesses

  • Declining market share – of CRED with increasing revenues – the Construction Services industry is growing faster than the company. In such a scenario CRED has to carefully analyze the various trends within the Capital Goods sector and figure out what it needs to do to drive future growth.
  • High turnover of employees – at the lower levels is also a concern for the CRED. It can lead to higher salaries to maintain the talent within the firm.
  • Declining per unit revenue for CRED – competitiveness in the Construction Services industry is putting downward pressure on the profitability. A starting guide to manage this situation for company name is – objectively assessing the present value propositions of the various products.
  • Business Model – of CRED can be easily imitated by the competitors in the Construction Services industry. To overcome these challenges company name needs to build a platform model that can integrate suppliers, vendors and end users.
  • Loyalty among suppliers is low – Given the history of CRED coming up with new innovations to drive down prices in the supply chain.
  • High cost of replacing existing experts – within the CRED. Few employees are responsible for the CRED’s knowledge base and replacing them will be extremely difficult in the present conditions.

Opportunities

  • Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of CRED. This will increase the consumption of CRED products.
  • Opportunities in Online Space – Increasing adoption of online services by customers will also enable CRED to provide new offerings to the customers in Construction Services industry.
  • Rapid Expansion of Economy – As the US economy is improving faster than any other developed economy, it will provide CRED an opportunity to expand into the US market. CRED already have know-how to operate into the competitive US market.
  • Customer preferences are fast changing – Driven by rising disposable incomes, easy access to information, and fast adoption of technological products, customers today are more willing to experiment / try new products in the market. CRED has to carefully monitor not only wider trends within the Construction Services industry but also in the wider Capital Goods sector.
  • Increasing government regulations – are making it difficult for un-organized players to operate in the Construction Services industry. This can provide CRED an opportunity to increase the customer base.
  • Lowering of the cost of new product launches – through third party retail partners and dedicated social network. CRED can use the emerging trend to start small before scaling up after initial success of a new product.

Threats

  • Commodification of the product segment – The biggest challenge for CRED and other players in the industry is the increasing commodification of the products in Capital Goods industry.
  • Changing demographics – As the babyboomers are retiring and new generation finding hard to replace their purchasing power. This can lead to higher profits in the short run for CRED but reducing margins over the long run as young people are less brand loyal and more open to experimentation.
  • Distrust of institutions – and increasing threat of legal actions for CRED – As the WTO regulations and laws are difficult to enforce in various markets. Legal procedures have become expensive and long drawn process. It can lead to less investment into emerging markets by CRED thus resulting in slower growth.
  • Competitors catching up with the product development – Even though at present the CRED is still leader in product innovation in the Construction Services segment. It is facing stiff challenges from international and local competitors.
  • Changing political environment – with US and China trade war, Brexit impacting European Union, and overall instability in the middle east can impact CRED business both in local market and in international market.
  • Competitive pressures – As the new product launch cycles are reducing in the Capital Goods industry. It has put additional competitive pressures on players such as CRED. Given the large customer base, CRED can’t respond quickly to the needs of the niche markets that disruptors are focusing on.

Conclusion

As customers continue to pay their bills and use the platform, Cred will have a lot of their financial data, which they can monetize in the future. It emphasizes building a gated community and implementing the idea behind the startup before expanding it further and becoming profit-oriented.