Paytm, the Alibaba backed online payments and ecommerce company, reported a three fold growth in transactions during its annual 12/12 offline shopping festival. Held on 12 December, the 12/12 festival sale is aimed at increasing greater sales for its partner merchants and brand stores.
The company released an official statement claiming, retail brands like Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Central, Reliance, Digital and Woodland saw 1.5 times increase in single day revenue. The report further added the 12/12 festival drove high footfalls and transactions for millions of offline retail partners. Speaking about the success of the shopping festival, the Chief Operating Officer of Paytm, Kiran Vasireddy said, “Paytm has become a preferred choice for in store mobile payments in the country. The excitement around this event from both consumers and merchants are overwhelming and we will continue to strengthen our relationship with the country’s retailer community with many such initiatives.”
Vasireddy further added local merchants and neighborhood stores across tier II and tier III cities such as Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Coimbatore and Kolkata participated in this year’s sale. Products across various categories such as groceries, FMCG, jewelry, apparels and pharmacy were offered in the 12/12 festive sale.
The 12/12 Festive Sale, similar to Alibaba’s Singles Day sale, is an annual offline shopping festival organized in an attempt to enable brick and mortar retailers to tap into the ongoing digital movement. This was the second year Paytm conducted the festive sale offering the best deals and cash back services to shoppers paying through Paytm.
This years sale offered some of the biggest cashback and discounts on electronics and various food and fashion outlets around the country. Post this sale, Paytm is also gearing up for its Grand Finale sale beginning on December 13. The company also has plans to spend close to $ 5 million to bring on board offline sellers, under their Retailer Inclusion Programme.