The phenomenal growth of Paytm is not a secret – Every fan boy of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates is now aware of how Paytm grew from a humble beginning to churning out 1 billion transactions via 147 million wallet users last year.In fact, last year in November, Paytm transactions exceeded combined usage of credit cards/debit cards in India.
Now, Paytm has reached a stage wherein they put more emphasis on retaining customers, rather than acquiring them. And this indeed a maturity level which we are expecting from every e-commerce/wallet company out there.
Paytm has clearly understood that with greater powers, come greater responsibilities, and some of the recent decisions taken by Paytm clearly showcases this attitude.
Here are three updates from Paytm camp, which strongly suggests that the focus of Paytm is now customer retention and gaining loyalty, rather than acquiring customers at a breakneck speed:
85,000 Sellers From Paytm Mall Removed
In the last few years, we have been listening to news about ‘acquiring’ new sellers by e-commerce firms. If Amazon claimed that they added 50,000 new sellers, Flipkart claimed that they had 80,000 sellers. As if the total number of sellers is directly proportional to the quality rendered.
Breaking this rat race, and taking an important step towards ensuring customer satisfaction, Paytm Mall has removed 85,000 sellers from their platform.
This massive step to quarantine 85,000 sellers in one go has been taken to improve the quality of service and products.
Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma came out on Facebook yesterday, and announced this news, as he said, “Big change in our e-commerce business @PaytmMall. From open marketplace for any seller to now, only reputed and brand-authorised sellers.
No more, any bad shopping experience due to a few sellers. Now, only highly reputed and brand authorised retailers can sell on @PaytmMall !”
Some of the strict steps which Paytm Mall has taken for improving the quality of sellers:
- Mandatory for sellers to have brand authorization letter
- Sellers will undergo strict quality checks
- Sellers will be required to show their registration numbers
- Address of shop location needed now
- Shop photos of sellers also mandated by Paytm
- GSTIN now must for all sellers
Clarifying these changes, and explaining the reason, Amit Sinha, COO, Paytm Mall said, “Our goal is to set the benchmark for a platform that empowers reputed local shopkeepers and brands to sell quality merchandise. We will work closely with existing sellers, and continue onboarding further. This will help us offer a superior consumer experience,”
A big thumbs up to Paytm for taking these steps, and ensuring that only quality sellers are able to do business on their e-commerce portal.
Paytm Invests in Loyalty Program Startup
Paytm informed that they have invested an undisclosed amount in Mobiquest Mobile Technologies, which is a Noida based startup, specialising in creating loyalty programs for end-users.
Their flagship product is “m’loyal”, using which brands and businesses can create their own loyalty programs, design redemption rules and manage multiple offers on one single platform.
As per initial reports coming in, this investment has been made so that retailers and sellers associated with Paytm are able to design loyalty programs for their own customers. More customers for their retailers will translate into more business for Paytm, and based on this logic, this seems an excellent investment and initiative by Paytm.
In a statement, Paytm said, “This association will power Paytm-partnered merchant network to leverage Mobiquest’s data analytics and precision marketing solution in acquiring, engaging and rewarding customers.”
Paytm’s vice-president Sudhanshu Gupta said, “Our partnership with Mobiquest will help us offer mobile-based loyalty programmes to our partnered merchants”
Some of the existing customers of Mobiquest includes: Gini & Jony, the Select Citywalk Mall in New Delhi and fitness salon chain VLCC.
Paytm Will Allow Refund Of Movie Tickets
Ever since the concept of cinema was introduced, the tickets bought at cinema theatres have been non-refundable, and non-transferable.
This means, that once you have bought the ticket, it cannot be refunded or transferred.
But now, Paytm wants to change the pattern.
In a first of its kind initiative, Paytm is now allowing the refund of movie tickets, at a partial charge.
Under their ‘Cancellation Protect’ program, viewers can now pay Rs 9 extra, and in case they are required to cancel their movie tickets till 3 hours before the show, entire amount can be refunded back.
This can be a major customer-centric move, which can trigger more such steps in the ticketing industry.
Do you think that these decisions taken by Paytm will improve their brand image, and help them to retain more customers? Do let us know by commenting right here!
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