CRED Product Teardown - Product Improvement

CRED is a credit card bill payments app that provides value to its users with an ecosystem where one can link all their credit cards and make payments in a hassle-free way on a single platform. CRED aims to simplify credit card payments for its customers by making credit card bill payments simple, convenient, accessible & transparent. Apart from that there are some other services provided by CRED such as CREDmint, CREDrentpay and CREDprotect.

CRED honors its customers for responsible credit behavior by providing CRED coins on every transaction that is made by its customers. These CRED coins can in return be redeemed for the rewards and benefits offered by CRED on its platform in the form of cashback, discounts, exclusive deals, etc.

From a business perspective you might wonder what is so special about CRED. In fact, you might feel even more suspicious about CRED's operations and its business model when you take a deeper look at its financials. CRED has incurred losses of ₹1279 CR in FY22 with a revenue of ₹422 CR. The answer lies in the potential of CRED's user base which I will discuss more in my conclusion.

Pain Points Identified by CRED

• Difficulty in managing multiple credit cards and payments
• Lack of understanding of spending habits and categories
• High credit card bills and expenses
• Hidden charges and fees by credit card companies
• Complicated and unintuitive credit card management interfaces
• Lack of knowledge and education on credit cards and healthy credit habits

Services Offered by CRED

• Credit card bill payments all at one place — CRED allows users to pay their credit card bills from one central platform, supporting payments for over 5,000 credit card billers in India.
• CRED Mint (P2P loan feature based on trust) — CRED Mint is a P2P lending feature based on trust and reputation rather than credit scores or collateral, allowing users to borrow money from other CRED members.
• CRED RentPay — CRED RentPay allows users to pay rent using their credit card, earning rewards points and cashback while managing multiple rent payments from one platform.
• CRED Protect — CRED Protect is an insurance policy that covers users in case of credit card fraud or theft, providing peace of mind and financial protection.

CRED Value Proposition

• Easy Payment solutions — CRED provides one stop payment platform for its users who have multiple credit cards.
• Analysis of expenses by categories — CRED provides a breakdown of expenses by category to help users track their spending habits.
• Premium products for discounted bills — CRED offers exclusive deals and discounts on dining, travel, and shopping that can be redeemed for discounted credit card bills.
• Shows hidden charges charged by credit card companies — CRED highlights hidden charges and fees that credit card companies may charge.
• Clean UI/UX — CRED offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface for easy management of credit cards, rewards, and benefits.
• Educating users through stories and videos — CRED offers educational content to help users understand credit cards and develop healthy credit habits.

Customer Segmentation

• Premium credit card customers with a credit score greater than 750 — Affluent users with responsible credit behavior.
• Lenders — CRED members who lend money to other members through CRED Mint based on trust and reputation.
• Borrowers — CRED members who borrow money from other members through CRED Mint based on trust and reputation.
• Credit companies — Financial institutions that partner with CRED to offer exclusive deals and benefits to premium credit card customers.
• Premium brands — High-end brands that partner with CRED to offer exclusive rewards and discounts to premium credit card customers.
• RentPayers — CRED users who use CRED RentPay to pay their rent using a credit card, earning rewards and cashback on their payments, and managing their rent payments in one place.
• Insurance Holders — CRED users who use CRED Protect to protect themselves against credit card fraud or theft, ensuring they are covered financially in case of a security breach.

Possible Product Enhancements

CREDIT CARD HOLDERS IN INDIA are the top 5% affluent segment of the country with high spending habits. This user base opens up a goldmine of possible additional features that CRED can offer:

• Customer Data — CRED has huge customer data of of the richest segment of the country. This data can be used to understand the spending patterns of people to build a recommendation engine with personalized suggestion and leverage it for brand collaboration, which can generate huge revenue and also provide personalized experience for its users.
• Financial Management — CRED can offer personalized financial advice, investment suggestion and opportunities, wealth management and lastly income tax filing. Filing Income Tax is a huge pain with a lot of documentation and CRED can provide convenient solution for the same.
• CREDbank — The two main aspects for a bank are- firstly, it need customers who can deposit money in bank for its lending operations and secondly, it need borrowers who can borrow money from banks. CRED due to its lucrative customer base exactly has these users making it a perfect fit to become an operational Electronic bank in future.
• Marketplace for Crypto and NFTs — Since people only with high income participate in crypto exchange and buying NFTs, CRED with its already existing user base can build a marketplace offering crypto trading and NFT marketplace.

CRED Finance

CRED Finance is a new feature added to the CRED app that enables users to invest in stocks and create customized portfolios. The feature makes stock investment simple and trustworthy through:

• StockFolio Feature — Allows users to create customized portfolios of stocks or invest in pre-made StockFolios curated by analysts and industry experts.
• Personalized Financial Consulting — Provides expert advice and personalized recommendations to help users make informed investment decisions.
• Watchlist Functionality — Enables users to track portfolio performance before investing and monitor their investments.

Phase 1 focuses on building the core StockFolio feature, with plans to expand to other investment options in future phases. This strategic approach allows CRED to:

• Leverage its existing affluent user base who are likely to be interested in stock investments
• Test the market and gather user feedback before expanding the feature set
• Position itself as a comprehensive fintech platform by adding investment capabilities
• Build trust through expert-curated portfolios and personalized consulting

With the rising popularity of stock investments in India, CRED Finance is positioned to become a valuable tool for users looking to invest in stocks while maintaining the app's core principles of simplicity, convenience, and trustworthiness.

Product Requirements

Below are the detailed product requirements for CRED Finance:

EPICs