Snapdeal, India’s leading value e-commerce platform, today rolled out fast-track payment options for sellers on its platform. Under the “Jaldi Payments”, sellers will be able to receive payment within 3 days of the delivery of their shipment. This will slash their payment receipt time by 76% and will enable them to redeploy the capital to expand their business, build inventory and manage other business needs.
While the pandemic has led to accelerated growth opportunities for online sellers, easy availability of working capital has been a constraint, especially for small sellers. In a survey conducted by Snapdeal in February 2021, quick and flexible access to finance was identified by many sellers as an important lever of growth.
Based on the inputs received, Snapdeal has rolled out a simple and flexible plan that allows sellers to opt-in for fast-track payments choosing to receive payments within 3 / 7 days of the delivery of their shipments. Speaking on the launch of the program, Snapdeal spokesperson said, “100% of our sellers are small & medium sellers. Fast and predictable access to funds acts as a force multiplier for them. It enables them to serve more orders with limited working capital as they are able to achieve fast turnover of their inventories. Direct shipments by sellers allows them to manage their inventories more efficiently. Faster payments will enable them now to manage their capital for greater productivity. We are pleased to roll out the “Jaldi Payments” program as part of our continuing efforts to empower small sellers to connect with the online opportunity.”
The sellers will be charged a nominal fee towards the facility. This fee will be a fraction of the cost that they would incur in accessing funds from a bank, NBFCs or other sources.
Snapdeal’s “Jaldi Payments” program was launched earlier this month and has been widely welcomed by sellers. It is in the process of being extended to more sellers on Snapdeal.
One important reason for sellers to choose Snapdeal is the efficient utilization of their inventory. On Snapdeal, sellers ship directly to the buyers bypassing the traditional structure of selling through wholesalers and retailers, which means that their stocks are not stuck in the warehouses of online platforms. Combined with the faster payments, small sellers will be able tap the online opportunity in a larger way by churning their inventories faster and accessing liquidity to plan their operations.
As part of its efforts to deepen the availability of value merchandise online, Snapdeal has in the last year added more than 5,000 manufacturer-sellers on its platform. Most of these manufacturer-sellers are from hubs like Meerut, Ludhiana, Tirupur, Jaipur, Panipat, Surat, Rajkot and cover popular products like juicers & food processors, steel & copper utensils, crockery items, bed linen, fashion accessories, kidswear, sarees & suits, casual apparel and fitness equipment.
Last year, Snapdeal also expanded its decentralized logistics netwok by opening new centres in Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur, Indore, Hyderabad, Panipat, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Bahadurgarh, Yamuna Nagar, Rajkot, Bhiwandi, Agra, Noida, and Mathura.