Ralf Ringer: Bank loan directly from the manufacturer

When a year ago banks drastically tightened requirements for borrowers and reduced the volume of loans, retailers immediately faced the question: "Where can I get the money to buy the next collection?" The situation was aggravated when manufacturing companies refused to sell shoes for sale and increased the percentage of prepayment. This has led many retailers to either abandon the order or cut their budgets.

When the demand for Ralf Ringer men's shoes began to grow during the crisis, the company faced the fact that dealers who were ready to increase the order or make additional orders were unable to do so due to a lack of free funds. There are several reasons for the growth. Firstly, the company operates in the mid-price segment (which suffered the least from the financial crisis). And secondly, a special emphasis in the Ralf Ringer assortment is placed on comfort, classics and urban style - this is not a luxury item, which many began to refuse during the crisis. For the consumer, Ralf Ringer boots or boots are a thing that, in fact, is included in a certain mandatory consumer minimum. The crisis is not a crisis, and you will not walk barefoot.

But not everyone was able to provide payment for deliveries.

“The structure of the business in the segment of high-quality shoes is such that the client buys shoes from the manufacturer for 100% payment. Therefore, he contracts the volume of shoes, that is, is forced to make an advance payment for the ordered batch. And in order to be able to order shoes for sale, the dealer must have the finances to buy in advance, ”explains Alexei Purusov, financial director of Ralf Ringer. In times of crisis, small companies faced similar financial difficulties, and most of them are in Russia. Obtaining a loan in this situation without proper collateral, without the help of a guarantor, becomes completely impossible.

An unexpected way to solve the problem of the deficit of borrowed funds came to the head of the CEO of Ralf Ringer Andrei Berezhnoy: the company can give the bank its own guarantees for the loans of its dealers, which in this case only cover the remaining merchandise of Ralf Ringer shoes. Customers will receive a loan with the intended purpose - to purchase a certain consignment of goods. In the event of a customer default, the manufacturer undertakes to redeem this security deposit and return the loan amount to the bank.

A similar dealer lending program, the first and so far the only one in Russia, was launched in partnership with Promsvyazbank

“Since the bank is monitoring the manufacturing company, it is sure that the stock remains in stock and that if the borrower defaults, he is guaranteed to have no problems returning money. For the bank, the risks are completely hedged, - says a company representative. - In a certain way we risk, because in the event of default of our dealer we will have to sell this product, but we can get it, for example, at the end of the season, and it will be more difficult to do this, it will have to be sold at a different price. But we are ready to take on these risks. Including because in 2009 the sales were exceptional. ”

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In addition, the company decided that the system will work more efficiently if the transaction on the issuance of a loan by the bank is conducted under the guidance of the manufacturer. That is, the dealer does not apply for a loan to a bank, but to his manager at Ralf Ringer. After that, the manufacturer’s manager reports the dealer’s desire to the bank. And the regional branch of the bank closest to the client invites him to a meeting and hands him the necessary package of documents to fill out. The manufacturer continues to lead the client in the future, answering his questions and communicating with the bank on his question, agreeing that their customers be served as a matter of priority.

This helps to reduce the time for preparing documents, on the one hand, and the time for considering a loan application, on the other. When a bank decides to issue a loan to a small business, such support is very necessary.

Because small business for banks is a rather specific client. He is wary of loans in general and does not always understand the essence of the proposed banking product. Therefore, Ralf Ringer also carries out outreach to dealers.

Ralf Ringer has dealers who work as an individual entrepreneur and use a simplified tax system. So when they are offered in the bank to provide a whole bunch of documents, they are not always ready to do it. “Small companies need a special approach, our banks do not always know how to work with them. Despite the loud statements of many banks that they are going to the segment of small and medium-sized businesses, in fact there is no great activity, ”says Alexei Purusov.

With the lending scheme that Ralf Ringer proposed, everyone wins - the bank, the manufacturer, and the dealer. But to realize this simple and seemingly useful model for all participants in the transaction did not work out right away. Just because not every bank was suitable for putting it into practice, but only having a large branch network in the country, because Ralf Ringer dealers work in 267 cities in Russia. Such a bank turned out to be Promsvyazbank, which, in addition to an extensive network of branches, is also actively working in the lending market for small and medium-sized businesses. A significant advantage of the bank was the fact that Promsvyazbank has a certain flexibility, is ready for cooperation and various kinds of partnership programs.

For Ralf Ringer, this is far from the first step in supporting its dealers. Last year, the company refused to work in the “standard and additional sizes” format and began to collect orders in free sizes, although this required restructuring all the work on preparing orders for shipment. The company's goal was to reduce the amount of carry-over and free customers from the forced order of unclaimed sizes. The program “target loan for the purchase of RALF RINGER shoes” was launched only this year and is currently undergoing a run-in, but today there are clients who have received loans under the RALF RINGER guarantee.