Online payments are a cornerstone of e-commerce activity and consumer trust – a crucial barometer of its health. The payment methods consumers turn to are indicative of their levels of trust in the security of online shopping. Data from Daraz.pk’s recent Independence Day sale opens a window into consumer trust in prepaid transactions. While prepayment is an emergent player in the e-commerce landscape, Cash on Delivery still predominates.
This article gives an overview of several payment instruments available on Daraz.pk. While far from widespread, these online payment solutions are growing in influence.
In Prepaid We Trust
Daraz.pk’s Black Friday sale in November 2015 raised the benchmark for prepaid payments. The percentage of customers relying on prepaid transactions spiked to 33% from 5% during that sale.
Since then, the e-commerce company has been building partnerships with leading banks like HBL, Standard Chartered Bank, UBL, Meezan Bank, Silk Bank and more. It has started offering easy monthly instalments, made its portal 3D Secure and inducted mobile wallets and bank transfers into the mix.
The most recent HBL Independence Day ShopFest continued this upward trend. In MD Zain Suharwardy’s words:
When you’re Pakistan’s largest online marketplace, it isn’t enough to simply set up shop. The digitization of commerce has to work in tandem with payment solutions in order to truly effect a paradigm shift. We’ve made progress to this end and aim to convert greater numbers of customers to prepaid.
Trust by Numbers
70% of Independence Day ShopFest sales were prepaid: 47% of these were new customers and 25% were old customers opting for prepayment for the first time.
“It’s encouraging to know that almost half our prepayment customers during the Independence Day sale were brand new customers at Daraz, making first-time orders. Prepaid is a vote of confidence in an increasingly sophisticated ecosystem,” adds Suharwardy.
While the peaks in Daraz’s prepayment graph can be accounted for by major sale events such as Black Friday and Independence Day, the overall trend telegraphs growing trust in prepaid over time.
Daraz.pk’s payments ecosystem has grown to accommodate a range of electronic payments solutions. Cash on Delivery is no longer a foregone conclusion. Daraz has adopted a range of special offers, security features and payment options to give customers greater latitude and ease-of-use when shopping online.
Trust by Method
Online payment solutions ensuring maximum coverage
Daraz has been actively working with payment partners to ensure that maximum number of people can avail online payment facilities.
To this end, Daraz has onboarded Easypay and JazzCash – online payment solutions for e-commerce sellers and customers.
There are several ways of paying via these payment solutions. One of these solutions allows any local or internationally issued Visa/MasterCard Credit or Debit card holder to pay online. Compliance with International Data security standards and stringent security checks ensure these solutions optimize online shopping for millions of users nationwide.
Pakistan is a country with limited bank account penetration, and so, to bridge this gap, mobile wallets on Daraz – the Easypaisa Mobile Account and the JazzCash Mobile Account – empower customers without bank accounts to make payments online. Between January and July 2017, orders fulfilled using Easypaisa Mobile Account increased 168%. Including JazzCash Mobile Account transactions, the overall increase in Mobile Wallet payments during the first seven months of 2017 stands at 243%.
Daraz also facilitates bank transfers through Keenu NetConnect – an innovative card-less service in Pakistan custom-designed for online stores. It is a secure way for customers to pay online using their bank account.
3D Secure Payments
According to State Bank’s recommendations, increasing numbers of banks are adopting 3D Secure. Daraz is a 3D Secure enabled website.
3D Secure is a technology powered by Verified by Visa (VBV) and MasterCard SecureCode and adds an additional layer of security and secondary verification when using credit cards for internet-based transactions. It provides customers added protection from unauthorized online transactions by employing a One-Time Password (OTP) when they shop on 3D Secure enabled websites. Secondary verification is completed via SMS and/or email.
Easy Monthly Instalments on Daraz
Daraz offers easy monthly instalments, letting customers shop off Daraz through a deferred payment plan. The innovative online financing option, a breakthrough in the e-commerce space, makes online shopping more affordable for customers – it is free of markup, processing fee, down payment or other hidden costs.
The zero-cost easy monthly instalments let customers shop through over 300,000 products available on Daraz with a total cart value equal to or greater than Rs 10,000. Repayment can be scheduled in 3, 6 or 12 month tenures on checkout.
Currently offered to Standard Chartered Bank customers under Asaan Instalments, several other banks are expected to introduce this payment solution on the website in the near future.
Special Offers & Regular Incentives to Improve Online Payments
During the last year and a half, Daraz has consistently assisted the utilization of online payments through special offers and incentives on a regular basis. Mega events such as the Easypay Online Shopping Gala, JazzCash Festival, the HBL ShopFest and the scheduling of regular Bank Partner days – Standard Chartered Super Sundays (15% additional discount) and UBL Wednesdays (20% additional discount) are cases in point. Silk Bank Tuesdays and Meezan Fridays are expected to go live in the coming weeks.
These bank partnerships allow customers to avail bank-exclusive additional discounts on their cards, further incentivizing card payments and promoting prepayment culture on a regular basis.
Availability of payment systems has changed the e-commerce dynamic. As merchants know all too well, COD (cash on delivery) is not sustainable in the long-run. It has to move to a more formal, prepaid environment, as is the norm in other countries around the world. The role of a payment solutions is crucial – it imparts sellers security, and also extends that security to customers and clients like Daraz.pk, all while contributing to customer confidence.
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