{"id":5002,"date":"2020-10-28T16:18:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T10:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/blog\/?p=5002"},"modified":"2024-11-22T15:17:31","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T09:47:31","slug":"business-growth-festive-season-with-thirdwatch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/blog\/business-growth-festive-season-with-thirdwatch\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlocking Business Growth in the Festive Season \u2013 Chapter 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ecommerce<\/a><\/p>\n

Just as you are done reading the online transition and chapter one of Vedika\u2019s business journey, allow us to encapsulate another chapter of her business, an untold story. Vedika and Decor Wise\u2019s journey towards business growth and in handing the Indian shopper\u2019s most beloved payment method, Cash on Delivery<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The transition of Vedika\u2019s traditionally offline store, Decor Wise, wasn\u2019t as tricky as she thought. She found a secure payment gateway for india<\/a> for her online business, a no-code payment solution to accept payments from social media, and was progressively executing a higher number of orders by the day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The festive season was just around the corner and she was hoping to increase the efficiency of her e-commerce business while keeping profitability high.<\/span><\/p>\n

Decor Wise\u2019s popularity grew by leaps and bounds over time, and Vedika wanted to target Tier 2 and 3 cities in different states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and others next.<\/span><\/p>\n

Life was good. <\/span>Or, so she thought.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

At the crossroads pre Festive Season\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The festive season was incoming- the best season of the year for e-commerce businesses, and she had to prepare well. While Vedika was ecstatic that plenty of customers were interested in what she was offering, there was a pattern that she was beginning to notice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, great collections, Vedika. But do you guys offer CoD?<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This was a common ask from most visitors, especially during the festive season. She found herself at the crossroads, yet again. While online payments<\/a> were a smooth and hassle-free payment option, the Indian shopper\u2019s psyche hardly budged from their favorite payment mode- liquid cash.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was only the initial stage of thought and she mulled over it, as she should- why should sellers offer Cash on Delivery? It\u2019s extra work, not to mention the extra money!<\/span><\/p>\n

A few days passed, and a few more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Weighing the odds<\/span><\/h2>\n

As she sat in her picturesque office, she began weighing the pros and cons of offering cash on delivery as a payment method. The festive season would set in soon and she had to make a decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ecommerce<\/p>\n

She pictured herself in the shoes of a website visitor who would ideally be impressed with her product offerings. She also considered that her business was still in the growth stage, waiting to fully sink its claws in the non-metropolitan cities. These were the places that actively preferred cash as a payment option.<\/span><\/p>\n

She realized that offering cash on delivery was the way to start her efforts for the festive season.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, so she did. Just a month short of the festive season, Vedika began offering cash on delivery on Decor Wise. Unsurprisingly, new customers began thronging on her e-commerce website and the old customers found a reason to come back. It all looked rosy until she began looking at her return rates.<\/span><\/p>\n

While she was getting a ~30% bump in sales, she realized that at least one in three of these CoD orders were returned to the warehouse. This meant that her RTO losses went for a toss- taking up at least 30% of her operation costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apprehensive about these return rates, Vedika began jotting down a few ways in which she was losing money in shipping these orders:<\/span><\/p>\n