Fairown, a fintech company powering the circular economy, is advancing its sustainable products-as-a-service offering in Poland through a new partnership with Apple Premium Reseller, iDream, and a digital bank Inbank. This is Fairown’s second partnership in the country, after the fintech entered the Polish market in July, and launched a partnership with another Apple Premium Reseller Cortland.

Fairown’s products-as-a-service platform allows banks, brands, and retailers to participate in the circular economy, centred around producing, consuming, and reusing products, thereby reducing excessive waste and the need for raw materials by extending products’ lifetime value.

In the current economic situation, where high inflation and economic insecurity are projected to seriously impact consumer spending, merchants need to compete more than ever to attract customers. Fairown’s subscription model has proven to positively impact retailers’ sales in a short timeframe – just a few months after partnering with Fairown, subscriptions made up 10% of the B2C sales for Komplett, the largest e-commerce company in the Nordics. Whilst developing product subscriptions in-house may take 18 to 24 months, the integration of outsourced solutions can be completed very fast - in iDream’s case, it took the retailer just one business day to do the technical setup of Fairown’s platform in-store.

Hendrik Roosna, CEO at Fairown, commented, “Fairown offers brands and retailers a simple solution with a quick time to market. This enables us to mitigate any fears and merchants to test the waters and take up results fast, with no complexity. Our platform can be used integration-free and set up within two weeks on average. This is a big step closer to the circular economy, as the subscription service is more accessible to banks and merchants across Europe.”

Fairown offers a complete suite of software and services to offer products for monthly subscriptions and manages the entire product life cycle from purchase to periodic renewals, repurposing, and recycling. Through the solution named iDream Easy, consumers will have access to products like iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and MacBooks via subscription service, and Fairown can advance its existing circular economy offering in Poland. Under the partnership, Fairown will provide the payment platform and manage product renewal cycles; iDream will sell the products; and Inbank will take care of product financing.

In this circular model, all participants win - brands and retailers get loyal customers and recurring sales; banks benefit from the predictable payment flows; and consumers get lower price points, better value for money, and sustainable offerings.

According to the international waste electrical and electronic equipment forum, 5.3 billion mobile phones will be thrown away in 2022. The main issue is that people keep their old devices, rather than recycle them. There are an estimated 16 billion mobile phones worldwide - and in Europe, almost a third are no longer in use. This results in just 17% of the world’s e-waste being properly recycled.

Roosna continued, “That’s what products-as-a-service offerings are all about. By helping brands and retailers launch product-as-a-service offerings, we give devices like phones and laptops a new life. Our goal is to reduce waste through renewals by reselling, repurposing, or recycling old devices. As our service is already available in Cortland’s stores in Poland, we are extremely happy to launch the iDream Easy solution with iDream and Inbank, and expand our reach. This enables us to lead the shift to sustainable production and consumption, and move closer to the circular economy together.”

iDream has 12 shops and over 100 employees; it is owned by Eurotel, which has more than 20 years of experience in the Polish consumer electronics market. Tomasz Basiński, Vice President at Eurotel, commented, “The financing offer to iDream’s customers is constantly developing. Thanks to the iDream Easy solution implemented in iDream’s stores, consumers will have access to products, such as iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and MacBooks, via the subscription service. This is the first such a wide offering for Apple products in the Polish market.”

Tomasz Rzeski, Sales Manager at Inbank Poland, emphasised, “We are glad to introduce this innovative product to the market together with iDream and Fairown. Not only does it shape new trends in the consumer electronics market, but also contributes to more sustainable consumption.”