Payment methods that consumers turn to are indicative of their levels of trust in the security of online shopping. Data from Daraz.pk’s recent Independence Day sale opens a window into consumer trust in prepaid transactions.

Daraz.pk’s payments ecosystem has grown to accommodate a range of electronic payments solutions.

Cash on Delivery is no longer a foregone conclusion: Daraz has adopted a range of special offers, security features and payment options to give customers greater latitude and ease-of-use when shopping online.

Recently, the company analysed the use of several payment instruments available on their website, and how their use is gradually growing in influence.

In prepaid we trust

Daraz.pk’s Black Friday sale in November 2015 raised the benchmark for prepaid payments.

The percentage of customers relying on prepaid transactions spiked to 33% from 5% during this sale alone.

Since then, the ecommerce company has been building partnerships with leading banks such as HBL, Standard Chartered Bank, UBL, Meezan Bank, Silk Bank and more.

Daraz.pk has also started offering easy monthly installments, made its portal 3D Secure, and inducted mobile wallets and bank transfers into the mix.

The most recent HBL Independence Day ShopFest continued this upward trend.

"When you’re Pakistan’s largest online marketplace, it isn’t enough to simply set up shop," said Zain Suharwardy, MD of Daraz.pk. "The digitisation of commerce has to work in tandem with payment solutions in order to truly effect a paradigm shift. We’ve made progress to this end and aim to convert greater numbers of customers to prepaid.”

Trust by numbers

“It’s encouraging to know that almost half our prepayment customers during the Independence Day sale were brand new customers to Daraz, making first-time Daraz orders. Prepaid is a vote of confidence in an increasingly sophisticated ecosystem,” adds Suharwardy.

70% of Independence Day ShopFest sales were prepaid: 47% of these were new customers and 25% were old customers opting for prepayment for the first time.

While the peaks in Daraz’s prepayment graph can be accounted for by major sale events such as Black Friday and Independence Day, the overall trend telegraphs growing trust in prepaid over time.

Trust by method

Daraz has actively been working with payment partners to ensure that the maximum number of people can avail online payment facilities.

To this end, Daraz has brought on board Easypay and JazzCash - online payment solutions for ecommerce sellers and customers. There are several ways of paying via these payment solutions.

Any local or internationally issued Visa/MasterCard Credit or Debit card holder can pay online using these portals. Compliance with International data security standards and stringent security checks ensure these solutions optimise online shopping for millions of end users nationwide.

Pakistan is a country with limited bank account penetration, and so, to bridge this gap, mobile wallets on Daraz - the Easypaisa Mobile Account and the JazzCash Mobile Account - empower customers without bank accounts to make payments online.

Between January and July 2017, orders fulfilled using Easypaisa Mobile Account increased by 168%. Including JazzCash Mobile Account transactions, the overall increase in Mobile Wallet payments in the first seven months of the year is at 243%.

Daraz also facilitates bank transfers through Keenu NetConnect - an innovative card-less service in Pakistan custom-designed for online stores. It is a secure way for customers to pay online from their bank account.

3D Secure payments

According to State Bank recommendations, a growing number of banks are adopting 3D Secure.

Daraz is a 3D Secure enabled website. 3D Secure, the latest technology powered by Verified by Visa (VBV) and MasterCard SecureCode, adds an additional layer of security and secondary verification when using credit cards for internet-based transactions.

It provides customers added protection from unauthorised internet-based transactions by requiring them to provide a One-Time Password (OTP) when they shop on 3D Secure enabled websites, such as Daraz. Secondary verification is completed via SMS and/or email.

Easy monthly installments on Daraz

Daraz offers easy monthly installments, letting customers shop off Daraz through a deferred payment plan. The innovative online financing option, a breakthrough in the ecommerce space, makes online shopping more affordable for customers - it is free of markup, processing fee, down payment or other hidden costs.

The zero-cost easy monthly installment lets customers shop through over 300,000 products available on Daraz with a total cart value equal to or greater than Rs 10,000.

Repayment can be scheduled in 3, 6 or 12 month tenures on checkout.

Currently offered to Standard Chartered Bank customers under Asaan Installments, several other banks are expected to introduce this payment solution on the website in the near future.

Special offers and regular incentives to improve online payment utilisation

In the last year and a half, Daraz has consistently grown the incidence of online payment through special offers and incentives on a regular basis.

Mega events such as the Easypay Online Shopping Gala, JazzCash Festival and the HBL ShopFest and the scheduling of regular Bank Partner days - Standard Chartered Super Sundays (15% additional discount) and UBL Wednesdays (20% additional discount) are cases in point.

Silk Bank Tuesdays and Meezan Fridays are expected to go live in the coming week.

These bank partnerships allow customers to avail bank-exclusive additional discounts on their cards, further incentivising card payments and promoting prepayment culture on a regular basis.

While prepayment is an emergent player in the ecommerce landscape, Cash on Delivery still predominates. However, things are set to change with the customer dynamic shifting towards the convenience that online payment offers.

Availability of payment systems has changed the e-commerce dynamic. As merchants know only too well, COD (cash on delivery) is not sustainable in the long-run.

It has to move to a more formal, prepaid environment, as is the norm in other countries around the world.

The role of payment solutions is crucial - they impart seller security, and also extend that security to customers and clients like Daraz.pk, all the while contributing to customer confidence.

This content is a paid advertisement by Daraz and is not associated with, or reflective of the views of Dawn.com and its editorial staff.