7 reasons to start selling on Paytm mobile marketplace

We know smartphone penetration is on the rise. We know mobile shopping is becoming more popular with customers. We know major marketplaces like Flipkart and Snapdeal already have their mobile shopping apps with claims of 20-40% orders from them. We know everyone is talking about mobile commerce and its spiraling popularity.

While everyone is awaiting a majority shift in desktop usage to mobile traffic, Paytm decided to take the leap and throw its doors open to connect sellers and buyers. In February this year, Paytm’s mobile shopping marketplace was launched to tap into the fast-growing 230+ million smartphone users in India.

So why not take the leap into mobile commerce with Paytm?

Check out these 7 reasons, sure to make you think of selling on Paytm.

1. First player advantage

Paytm is the first mobile only marketplace in India. Being first in the game always has benefits in addition to more chances for correcting errors, at least until other players are in the domain. Paytm is already equipped with the technical know-how of being in the mobile domain with its bill payment, mobile recharge options etc. Armed with the knowledge, it will be easier for them to apply this and fine-tune their selling activities.

2. Less competition

Since it’s the first, and only, mobile marketplace, the number of players are much lesser than the other marketplace options you have. So you have to compete against lesser sellers in trying to get your customers’ attention. For example, in Flipkart or Amazon you have to compete with thousands of sellers to get a foothold in customers’ minds. But in Paytm, there are less than 500 sellers right now, which mean your products can get more visibility when customers browse for options.

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 3. 5 million+ user base

We noticed that there are 5-10 million Paytm users on Android alone. Keeping that as a minimum, as we have not considered other users on Blackberry, iOS, Windows etc., we are still looking at 5 million users for its various services, with whom they have established trust and credibility. So in customers’ minds, a Paytm mobile marketplace would carry the same trust and credibility, translating into more traffic. With a solid user base in place already, traffic shouldn’t be a concern.

4. Your voice will be heard

A very common hassle or problem sellers face in marketplaces is that their concerns or problems are not heard or given consideration. Many sellers say eBay is customer centric and worry only about keeping the customers happy, irrespective of losses incurred by sellers. Although many players are trying to change this with seller training programs and better support facilities, the fact still remains that it may not be possible to hear everyone equally when required.

Here again, you will have a benefit at Paytm. As the number of sellers is much lesser now, you have better chances of being heard. As its in the initial growing stage, Paytm would be open to listening to you more as they will also want to concentrate on improving user friendliness, product offerings and operations; hence your practical difficulties or concerns have better chances of being considered.

5. Live chat messenger

Most marketplaces have a live chat option now. But here again Paytm has tried to make a difference. The live chat in Paytm is for customers to connect directly with sellers. So when a customer chats while browsing on the app, he would be chatting directly with seller.

• Main idea is to replicate the human shopping experience (missing in online selling). Just like a customer would speak to the shop attendants about different colour options, available sizes or patterns, he can ask the sellers the very same questions through the chat option.

• The price conscious Indian customers are happiest on the shopping streets spread across the length and breadth of the country. It is here they can bargain to their hearts’ content and buy stuff at cheapest prices, giving them the satisfaction of buying items of ‘value’. Paytm has tried to implement this simple joy of customers with the live chat option. The thought of having to bargain may be troubling to you, but think of the footfall and customer retention possibilities.

• Cart abandonment is a major issue faced by online sellers now. Although there are options suggested to coax them into completing the purchase, the click is ultimately at their hands. Same is in the case of Paytm too, but the difference here is with live chat you can avoid cart abandonments. Since customers are already bargaining/enquiring with you directly, chances of them completing the purchase are, agreed not guaranteed, definitely more.

• Human interaction helps to establish trust. It is difficult to get customer loyalty in online selling mainly due to the absence of human interaction. With Paytm’s live chat, you get to talk to your customers directly, convince them and coax them just like in a physical shop. Hence it’s easier to establish trust and build a better relationship with them.

6. Concentrated marketing

Paytm is an established name in the mobile domain. There is a certain amount of credibility and customer friendliness associated with the name. They try to attract and retain customers in a number of ways:

• Big-time offers –As many as 3-4 days per week, Paytm offers 30-40% cash back offers to customers across products on its marketplace. So for a product priced Rs 1000, a customer can get upto Rs 400 cash back depending on the offer trending. This cash can be utilized by customer to avail of other services offered by Paytm like mobile recharge, bill payment etc. Sellers of course get the full Rs 1000 in their pockets once the product is sold

• Constant Push notifications- Once customers download and install the Paytm mobile shopping app, push notifications are constantly sent to them with current and upcoming offers. This increases traffic to the app, as customers will at least want to check out the offer. And once they browse, irresistible offers will not go unnoticed. Sellers agree that they have witnessed tremendous increase in their sales on days when push notifications are sent out.

• Organic traffic- Paytm has been in the mobile commerce domain for a while now with their convenient-daily-life-solutions like mobile recharge, bill payments etc. The main website has a mention of all the services including the shopping app. So even if a customer comes to recharge his phone, he will still get to see the mobile marketplace option. With the rigorous marketing efforts, this organic traffic can be converted into sure-shot customers.

7. Digital wallet- Paytm Cash

Paytm has always tried to make mobile commerce acceptable and user friendly, in tune with which they have integrated a digital/cash wallet option, Paytm Cash. Users can pre-load these wallets with cash from their credit cards or bank accounts. Shopping becomes much faster for them on Paytm’s mobile marketplace.

At the launch in February, Mr Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO of Paytm said, “We need a very reliable and easy to use payment system for mobile. None of the traditional systems were built for mobile, so we made Paytm Cash. It is a game-changing product made for mobile payments. All your saved cards – credit cards, debit cards and net banking work seamlessly with Paytm Cash Wallet right from your phone. Paytm has more than 1 million saved cards and it will be a breeze to shop using these.” 

Paytm has set an audacious goal for themselves, re-iterated every second by the mission statement plastered on all their conference walls and workspaces – “1 Million Orders a Day will happen here first.” Now, whether this will actually happen and Paytm will be the first ecommerce company to process 1 million orders in a day, we can only wait to find out. But all current data and figures indicate that mobile commerce is set to take the Indian shopping scene by storm.

Are you still trying to decide – Join Paytm and be part of a possible revolution, or not join and be left behind?