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“Close to 40 percent of the entire sales volume is now paid for by bank cards and eSewa wallet. This is a significant increase compared to the same time last year when the contribution was only 13 percent of total sales,” Lino Ahlering, managing director of Daraz, told the Post.
“In fact, 45 percent of the total 11.11 sales were paid through debit or credit cards and eSewa. This is huge for a country like Nepal where cash on delivery used to be much more popular in the past,” Ahlering said.
Amitesh Roy, chief commercial officer at Sastodeal, said that more than 40 percent of the transactions were made through digital payments as people preferred contactless delivery. They were also encouraged by consumer focused incentives.
According to him, convenience, safety, especially in the context of the pandemic which made consumers want to avoid handling cash, discounts offered by partner banks and e-wallet, and ongoing education on digitalised payment are the major reasons for the growing customer preference for digital payments.
Anil Sharma, executive director of the Nepal Bankers Association, said that there was a significant growth in the number of mobile banking customers. “One-third of the bank account holders in the country now have access to mobile banking. Nearly 10.15 million out of around 30.25 million account holders are using mobile banking services,” Sharma told the Post.
“This kind of growth used to take four-five years before the pandemic hit the country, but now the number of people using the service increased rapidly within five-six months,” Sharma said.
The habit of banking and conducting other transactions from home increased after Covid-19 as social distancing became the norm due to fears of infection.
At the same time, digital payment infrastructure was up and running, which allowed people to easily switch from paying cash to paying electronically.
“Customer apprehensions regarding digital transactions have disappeared, and they also found it more convenient,” Sharma added. The bank offered attractive schemes for customers making transactions through digital mode.
“Digital payments during this festive season saw a 120 percent jump compared to cash on delivery,” Roy told the Post.
“Last year, only 10 percent of the transactions were made via digital payments. The massive growth in digital payments was made possible by digital payment options from scan to card payment to e-wallet with attractive festive offers,” Roy added.
Consumers preferred a contactless shopping experience from a safety point of view with scan and pay or pre-payment instead of cash on delivery. “The partnership between e-commerce platforms and the digital payment ecosystem and offers encouraged people to choose online payment,” he said.
The cash back offer on pre-payment also spurred consumers to go digital, Roy said. The entire digital payment system, such as digital banking and e-wallet, was aggressively supportive of offering cash back and discounts. Consumer awareness also boosted digital payments during this festival season, he added.
While digital payments have been spreading rapidly in the Kathmandu Valley, customers elsewhere in the country are only slowly getting used to paying electronically.
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