Online shopping sites in India, striving to attract more customers, often face a dilemma when they need to decide whether to offer cash-on-delivery or prepaid payment options. Both cash delivery and prepaid online payments are popular transaction options for purchasing and selling products online.
However, many low price online shopping apps still do not offer cash on delivery and entirely depend on prepaid online payments. This article explains why cash-on-delivery is a must-have transaction option for each online shopping app.
Cash On Delivery: Meaning And Importance
Cash on delivery is a transaction option under which customers pay for their online orders while receiving their products at the provided address. The e-commerce sector does not offer the personal touch of traditional marketing procedures, where customers pay after receiving the products in hand. Still, cash on delivery provides a similar feel of shopping and trust to the customers.
It is important for each low price shopping app to provide COD payment options due to the following reasons:
- A large percentage of Indian customers prefer cash on delivery rather than prepaid payments.
- India’s diverse population differs in its level of digital literacy. Therefore, cash-on-delivery offers the trust needed to retain customers who are new to online shopping.
- One cannot deny that Indians prioritize checking their products while purchasing them. Hence, with the COD option, they can check the product before making the final payment. In addition, they are given the facility to unbox and check the product in the presence of the delivery person to resolve any issues.
- As concerns over online fraud are on the rise, several Indians still prefer paying with cash. Whether you own a small, medium, or large online shopping platform, offering cash on delivery is a strategic move to retain more customers and cover the gap between the online shopping experience and customer preferences.
Benefits Of Cash On Delivery:
Offering cash on delivery to the customers comes with multiple benefits:
- Flexible payment options: Customers who pay using cash on delivery experience a more flexible payment option, which enhances their loyalty and trust in your brand and influences them to make repeated purchases over the long term.
- No online fraud: Cash-on-delivery shopping apps offer optimal security to both the merchant and the customers. With COD, you need not offer any financial details, such as bank account, debit card, or credit card details, to the seller. This is one of the major reasons why most customers choose COD over prepaid payments when shopping online.
- Try products without any risk: Before making the payment for your purchase, it is helpful for customers to cross-check the items. For instance, if a customer orders clothing but receives the wrong color, size, or product, they can immediately initiate a return or replacement online without having to pay for anything in advance.
Conclusion:
An online shopping platform can make itself more attractive to customers by leveraging cash-on-delivery payment options. Hence, with flexible payment options, you can build long-term relationships with your customers and strengthen customer brand loyalty, positively impacting profitability via customer lifetime value.
