Sunbit’s BNPL Approach Is a Fast Credit Check to Create New Flex Pay Options
Vision Monday
LOS ANGELES—Part of the modern patient experience in health care and at retail is to help patients and consumers better understand the value of their services and purchases and also to minimize friction in the payment process. Sunbit’s buy now, pay later technology (BNPL), reflecting a broad trend in flexible payment options for consumers, has been widening its involvement with both independent eyecare practices and optical retailers along with multi-location clients.
As Sunbit’s Tai Riesenfeld, co-founder and head of sales pointed out to VM earlier this year, the company specifically set out to strategically focus on certain types of business (auto service centers) and, then, specialty health care (vision/eyewear/optometry providers) along with dentists, where purchases considered to be a necessity also required pay-over-time choices.
Sunbit’s BNPL fast-check credit solution approves 90 percent of people who apply and provides them with a three-months, no-interest financing option. To ensure flexibility and accessibility for all, six-month and 12-month BNPL options with interest are also available. Sunbit’s BNPL technology gives customers more purchasing power, introducing a smart way to pay over time for what they need, the company said.
Sunbit’s been expanding with various partnerships in optical. In addition to working with such multi-location regional players as Eyemart Express, Dr. Tavel Eye Care, Henry Ford Optimeyes, Eye Doctor’s Optical Outlets, Standard Optical and others, more recently Now Optics, which operates MyEyeLab and Stanton Optical locations, announced its own partnership with the company for all its locations across the country. “We’re always thinking about new and innovative ways we can deliver simple, affordable eyecare at My Eyelab and Stanton Optical, and our latest partnership with Sunbit takes that commitment a step further,” said Daniel Stanton, CEO of Now Optics. “Eyecare is a right, not a privilege, so we feel obligated to provide as much flexibility as possible with payment options for each and every person that comes to our stores. Clear vision is a vital part of healthy eyes and something we want to ensure everyone can afford regardless of their budget or current situation,” said Stanton.To reach more independents, Sunbit will be showing at PECAA’s upcoming national meeting this month. Previously the company also announced it was selected by Acquios Alliance as its preferred BNPL provider for their membership of 330 independent optometry practices.
Sunbit is also one of the companies involved in Techifeye, a group of 12 technology businesses which are showing how new technologies can generate revenue and help modernize practices. (See story, page 28). Recently, fast-growing Sunbit was named to the 2021 CB Insights Fintech 250 List of Top Fintech Startups. The company was also named Best Point of Sale Company in the 2022 FinTech Breakthrough Awards.
Sunbit’s own research of eyecare professionals supports the importance of a “more frictionless checkout experience.” The survey finds that with competition from online retailers growing, more than half of ECPs feel business metrics directly related to revenue such as capture rate, average transaction value, gross-revenue-per-exam, and sales by employee, are the most critical indicators of success. A copy of the survey results is available for download at https://optical.sunbit.com/captureratesmatter.
