Paytm to Hold First-Ever Festive Season Sale This Month

Mobile shopping app Paytm is gearing up its operations for the festive season in the second half of October with its first-ever festive season sale, featuring discounts and cash back offers on gadgets and gizmos, the company said.

Paytm has already gone live with some of the offers, and will launch the promotional and communication campaigns in the second half of October, with discounts going up as high as 80 percent, said Saurabh Vashishtha, Vice President, Business, Paytm, in a phone conversation with Gadgets 360.

"In terms of date, we're going to do it in the second half of October. We are still to go public with the date, and figuring out the exact date," he said, adding that whole month of October is a festive season for the firm, and they are expecting over two to three times its typical average transactions this month. Paytm averages 2 million transactions a day on the platform on average, he said.

The season accounts for around 40 percent of annual sales for the company. Apart from mobiles, tablets and laptops, the season sees a sales on ethnic wear, home furnishings, and large appliance purchases.

"We have made huge investments and preparations on the logistics side. We are working with 30 logistics partners across the country, this includes national logistics players as well as smaller players who are present in specific geographies, in specific cities," Vashishtha said.

Paytm has worked closely with brands, merchants and logistics partners to make sure that purchases of large appliances, such as fridge, AC, washing machines, are seamless and smooth for customers.

"We have also invested quite a bit on technical training as well as to make sure they are integrated with our system. A lot of effort has gone into educating and training merchants as well, to make sure that the right quality and right amount of inventory is available during peak season," Vashishtha said.

(Also Read: Paytm to Invest $10 Million in Logistics Data Firm LogiNext)

Cashback offers during the festive sale period will be credited into the buyers' Paytm wallet, which can be used against any future purchase or services, or transferred to another Paytm wallet user's account, the company said.

Paytm has introduced a "bargain" feature on its app wherein a customer can chat directly with a merchant to negotiate a better price, the company said, and quoted two million unique listed products on its marketplace.

Disclosure: Vijay Shekhar Sharma's One97 is an investor in NDTV's Gadgets 360.