Paytm to hold ’12/12 Festival’ to boost offline sales

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Dec 12, 2017

India’s largest digital payments platform Paytm’s second edition of 12/12 festival is currently underway through which the company aims to boost offline digital sales of its 5 million merchant base across the country.
 

With the backing of giant investors such as Softbank and Alibaba the company has decided to take the omni-channel route in India. The shopping festival is expected to further boost the company’s digital payments as it will facilitate brick-and-mortar retailers to tap into the digital space with Paytm, attract new customers, and grow its businesses multi-fold.
 
Paytm’s over 5 million merchant partners include some big names like Big Bazaar, PC Jeweller, Trends, Lotto, Peter England, Park Avenue among many others who will be offering discounts and cashbacks up to 50 percent to the Paytm customers shopping at their stores.

Paytm has also announced that the 12/12 festival will be an annual event which will help the firm strengthen its relationship with the offline retailer community.

“A majority of India's commerce occurs offline in the form of 'in-store' payments across a consumers' trusted network of local and brand stores," Paytm Chief Operating Officer Kiran Vasireddy said in a statement.
 
"True digitisation in India will happen when a large majority of in-store payments move from cash to digital. With our '12/12 festival', we celebrate customers walking into stores where our merchants partners welcome digital payments," Vasireddy added.
 
Along with its offline presence Paytm is also focusing on its online business Paytm Mall and expected to invest $2.5 billion to take on rivals Amazon and Flipkart. During the last festive season the company had invested Rs 500 crore on promotions to boost online sales.