India's largest online marketplace Snapdeal revealed key trends from its on-going two-day Unbox Cash-Free sale.
This is the first ecommerce sale post the demonetisation announcement by the government on November 8, 2016.
The response to the sale indicates that users have quickly adapted to digital payments. Nearly 75 percent of the sale orders have been placed using various digital options including FreeCharge, Credit / Debit cards and net-banking.
This massive shift away from Cash on Delivery highlights the Indian consumer's growing comfort with cashless payments.
Consumers buying mobiles and electronics were most likely to use digital payments, with over 90 percent of all sales in this category being cashless.
For kitchen and large appliances like geysers and heaters, over 75 percent of the transactions were cashless. Fashion and accessories, traditionally one of the most cash heavy categories also saw over 60 percent transactions coming from the cashless route.
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In addition to the ease and reliability of prepaid transactions on the Snapdeal platform, an attractive 10 percent instant discount offer on use of SBI cards also struck a chord with the customers.
From a regional perspective, the maximum prepaid orders in terms of value were received from North Indian cities, while Southern cities led by volume of prepaid transactions. Interestingly, the cashless trend was seen equally in smaller cities and towns too.
More than 90 percent of the orders from smaller towns like Madehapura (Bihar), Tura (Meghalaya), Malapuram (Kerala), Ballia (Uttar Pradesh), Ambikapur (Chattisgarh) were placed using cashless options.
Post demonetization, Snapdeal had rolled out a range of effective alternatives to cash payments. The introduction of FreeCharge "Wallet on delivery" and Cards on Delivery has given a definite boost to the cashless payments at Snapdeal.
Another contributing factor for increase in prepaid orders is the additional benefits of free shipping, upgrade to Next Day Delivery and extended returns that most prepaid orders get through Snapdeal Gold.
The most popular products in the Snapdeal Unbox Cash-Free Sale, besides mobiles, were large kitchen appliances like geysers and heaters, given the winter season in North India.
Additionally, the wedding season contributed to a surge in sales of branded luggage and suitcases, with five times the normal volume already sold on day 1 of the sale. While winter apparel was the most popular in the fashion category, in accessories, men's watches and women's sun glasses seemed to be the hot favorite.