Within few hours of the announcement of demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes, Snapdeal and Freecharge were quick to come with a workaround for “cash on delivery” option. They announced a new payment option — Wallet on Delivery.
Wallet on Delivery is an interesting concept. It combines the “pay on delivery” expectation of users and the “non-cash” payments preference of all e-commerce companies.
And going by the numbers revealed by Freecharge, it seems that the option is being welcomed by users with open hands. The company claims that within just one week, it has made more than 100,000 deliveries with the option of wallet on delivery.
Along with wallet on delivery, the company also has “Change on Wallet”. In a situation where if a customer tenders a Rs 2000 currency note, and no change is available, the change due is instantly transferred to the user on their FreeCharge wallet.
Another major advantage of using this new Wallet on Delivery option is that in case a customer returns a product, the refund is credited back to the wallet instantly as soon as the packet is picked up.
Commenting on the success of Wallet on Delivery service, Govind Rajan, CEO of Freecharge, said,
With the higher denomination currency notes no longer usable, thousands of e-commerce users across India had the choice to either delay acceptance of their packets in transit or cancel the order. We are delighted to have implemented these practical solutions in real time.
Recently, Freecharge also announced a new Zero Cost Offer, which enables merchants to start accepting money via Freecharge wallet at a zero setup cost. Further, the company has also waived off transaction cost charged to merchants.
Currently, the biggest competitor of Freecharge in Paytm, which has also thrived after the demonetization announcement. It has already reached 5 million daily transaction mark and has witnessed over 1000% growth in its wallet transactions.
