The festive season is traditionally lucrative for e-commerce companies as they lure customers into spending more. However, for Paytm, it is offline that delivered the goods this time. In the months of September and October, the digital payments service recorded significant uptick from offline channels, which accounted for nearly 65 percent of overall transactions, according to reports. That is a sharp growth from 20 percent offline transactions a year ago. Also Read - How to book a Citybus ticket using Paytm: A step-by-step guide
Also Read - Google in talks to join India's open e-commerce networkPaytm is said to have processed transactions worth $1.6 billion during the festive months, recording a 3.5X growth in volumes over last year. Much of offline traction is a part of the sustained that all digital wallet companies have enjoyed since demonetization in November 2016. Paytm particularly has roped in millions of offline merchants, and also enabled QR codes-based payments across several points-of-sale across the country. Most of the growth witnessed has come from smaller towns and cities, the company stated. ALSO READ: Paytm targets offline merchants with new QR code-based service, ties up with Samsung Also Read - How to block someone on Google Pay: A step-by-step guide
“Offline growth has happened in the last one year after demonetization, with Paytm acquiring over 5 million merchants with QR code acceptance in one year,” Kiran Vasireddy, COO, Paytm, reportedly said. Tier II and Tier III towns posted a 60 percent growth in the number of offline transactions. “It’s encouraging to see that a majority of growth in offline payments is from smaller towns and cities. This has resulted in over $1.6 billion worth of transactions in a month, making this the largest Diwali for mobile payments in India,” Vasireddy added.
Majority of offline payments were made at food courts and fuel stations. And that is only natural as people eat out and travel a lot during the festive season. Other than Paytm’s mobile wallet’s frequent usage, the company’s new e-commerce entity Paytm Mall too claims to have posted significant growth in the festive sales. Paytm Mall has announced that it accounted for 20 percent of overall e-commerce sales between mid-September and mid-October. It has reached a gross merchandise value of $300 million in the period. ALSO READ: Paytm introduces insurance cover for its digital wallet; here s how it works
Paytm Mall is confident that it would maintain a steady run-rate going ahead. “People shop less post-Diwali season, but that will not impact our business since it is a horizontal platform selling products with repeat purchases as well,” Amit Sinha, COO, Paytm Mall stated.
