Indian eCommerce has gained a massive boost as the Covid-19 pandemic has increased consumer awareness and conversion to online shopping. It is becoming more prevalent as eCommerce companies provide consumers with more product choices and an excellent post-purchase experience.

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It’s interesting to realise that festive seasons provide the best opportunity for eCommerce businesses to grow – further and faster than other times of the year.

The festive season has already seen sales peak 1.3 times larger than last year within just four days. Online brands generated over INR 24500 crore in the previous few days, making this the busiest shopping season since the pre-pandemic era. Diwali is only expected to increase this trend.

Though optimistic, these projections do not reflect that most of these sales are tracked by eCommerce companies. As consumers get more accustomed to online shopping during the holiday season, D2C brands continue to struggle to deliver seamless customer experiences.

There are several challenges, including large advertising expenditures (cost of customer acquisition), high cart abandonment rates, high rates of RTO (return to origin), and inefficiencies in the payment and checkout processes.

Several solutions can be implemented to overcome the challenges mentioned above, enabling D2C brands to maintain sales and generate as much revenue as industry leaders.

SMEs: how to increase conversion during the festive season

Convenient Checkout

Customers’ experience begins after they land on the checkout page, so it’s equally important to build a convenient checkout experience.

For a brand to process customer orders, creating accounts, logging in, and collecting basic customer information are essential; however, they contribute to the high chances of cart abandonment during the holidays.

It has been found that approximately 24% of cart abandonments occur due to a login request. D2C brands can minimise checkout abandonments by streamlining the login process by following these practical solutions.

Automated login without OTP
The ability to verify users with a single tap
A pre-fill feature has been added to the address page
Easy, quick, and efficient discount discovery on the checkout page, such as drop-down menus, offers, etc.

Wrap gifts for your customers

There are crores of rupees spent annually on gifting and accessories in India. Gifting is a great way to enhance the value of your product. Most customers love the convenience of gifting because it saves them time.

Furthermore, it is an excellent way for users to shop for items across the country for friends and family who live far away.

The use of gift wrapping can be an excellent addition to retargeting ads, so your customers return more often. Gift wrapping increases the value of the order since customers will stay on the website longer.

The festival season is an excellent time to use branded gift wraps for promotional purposes.

Payment options must be more streamlined.

Indian consumers have improved digital payment transactions over the last few years. According to reports, they made US$ 9.36 billion in transactions in Q1 2022. Of this amount, 64% was made via UPI, 17% through credit cards, and the remainder through wallets, EMIs, and PayLater.

As a result of a large number of D2C companies, it becomes necessary to offer consumers a wide range of payment options. Options like payment links, ePOS, wallets, UPI, Netbanking, EMIs, and even PayLater are just a few options available to them.

Streamline cash transactions and Reduce RTOs

Despite the enormous growth in eCommerce prepaid orders since the pandemic, many users prefer cash-on-delivery (COD). As a result of consumers seeking better deals, some of which may be time sensitive, they may end up placing the order in a hurry during a festive period, which increases the probability of returns-to-origin (RTO) demands.

Furthermore, during the festive season, impulse buying is at its peak, and when the impulse is down, the order gets cancelled, leading to returns and exchanges.

The brand can reduce the chances of RTO by converting COD orders into prepaid ones with the help of prepaid discounts and incentives.

Experience enhancement for customers after purchase

Not only should checkout and payment options be simplified, but a streamlined customer experience should also be rolled out after purchases to increase conversions and retention.

Customer support after the product purchase is most important to a customer, so if they are unhappy with the product, they’re most likely to choose the same platform next time, provided they encounter smooth and cooperative customer service.

Using active channels of communication such as chatbots, emails, SMSs, or mobile apps, shoppers are regularly updated about their orders and deliveries, and any problems or complaints regarding their orders are addressed instantly by customer service representatives.

Process refunds on time

The refunds are processed similarly to online payments, using a payment gateway. All the parties involved in the refund scenario get their methods, mechanisms, and authentication factors. Several processes require human assistance, not automation, which delays further procedures. This prolongs the refund process.

In most cases, refunds usually appear in customers’ accounts within five to ten days. Technical problems may delay refunds by as much as ten days.

Business owners cannot control timely refund processing. Direct communication must occur between all payment processing entities. For instance, issuing banks sometimes fail to inform acquiring banks about transactions. Integrating a payment gateway like Easebuzz into your business will be a great advantage.