Offline retailing still holds good across India

Want that big-ticket purchase you've been eyeing since last Diwali? Offline or online, what's your preference? Can't decide? Here, toss a coin! heads for online and tails for offline. Flip! Don't lie; you want the coin to show heads since shopping online allows you the option to confront the massive payment and break it down with equated monthly instalments (EMIs). Here's the moment of truth: it is showing tails! Please don't get a "credit arrest!" Lacking credit options to shop offline can terrify you.

You may have to curtail your monthly expenditures and just pay it all in a lump sum since it's offline. That's been an issue with offline retail in India. Consumer confidence in buying offline has been eroded in favour of online purchases since it entails a lack of flexibility in retail checkout payment options, or so we believe.

Offline retail is still quintessentially Indian

According to market research from Gfk India, Indian customers have shown a predilection for offline shopping even during the pandemic. To purchase products such as smartphones, televisions, and refrigerators, most of us want to go and evaluate the dynamic eccentricities that these new, ever-evolving appliances provide. Organized retail stores have seen an acclivitous rise of 4-7 percentage points. From a granular perspective, it is evident that the large chains and exclusive retailers have surpassed their pre-pandemic numbers, but the small merchants have struggled a little.

The obstacles that come in the way offline retailers

Like everyone, merchants at offline stores want to increase their sales and profitability. This would necessitate generating more sales through the increasing average order value. It is a synchronized cycle. When the average order value increases, it boosts customer satisfaction and, eventually, retention. Think of the biggest offline retailers; they are identified as some of the most exclusive stores for electronic merchandising, luxury brands, furniture and lifestyle stores, etc.

What about the smaller offline merchants selling lighter consumer electronic items, car parts, and power solutions like batteries for inverters? They miss out on sales because the EMI culture has seeped deep into the Indian retail fabric, making it an inseparable part of the merchant and customer's shared space of convenience. Benori Knowledge, a global provider of custom research and analytics solutions, recently concluded from a survey that 90 per cent of people are more likely to shop from stores (both offline and online) that offer flexible retail checkout options like EMIs. The tail of questions and problems within the offline retail industry is never-ending. This tale needs a hero, a solution to all its snags.

Paytail: the EMI app that you need

India's $300 billion offline retail market is a big beast in existence and has a long tail to grasp. This is where Paytail has shown a solution and grabbed the market. The vision is to furnish the commerce channel between merchants and customers with technology-driven, flexible solutions. The company is modernizing offline commerce by providing customers with quick paperless EMIs and improving merchants' selling experience with scalable digital solutions. It empowers shops with mobile application-based technologies to offer customers reasonable EMI and retail checkout alternatives. From the merchant's perspective, the whole process is digital, from enrollment (which takes around 30 seconds) until payment receipt. In addition, the retailer does not need to follow up with anyone to get paid since the platform promises to deposit the entire amount into the merchant account in less than 30 minutes.

Returning to the big-ticket Diwali gift you never bought for yourself, simply buy it! When your merchant shows you the crimson all-in-one unique QR code, be bright-eyed and show your scanner in front of the code to Paytail.