How Flipkart and Amazon Are Making It Easier to Pay for Your Festive Season Shopping

Companies like Flipkart and Amazon have been saying that the most preferred payment method among Indian online shoppers is cash on delivery. For Indians, there is nothing better than the idea of ​​paying only when the goods are delivered. A large number of Indians do not have credit or debit cards, and although things are changing, many Indian online shoppers still prefer to pay with cash.

Since demonetisation, e-commerce companies in India have been focusing on offering alternative payment methods. Amazon India not long ago started offering card-based delivery services to customers, and Flipkart soon followed. The online marketplace now allows users to make payments using mobile wallets, credit and debit cards EMI, UPI, etc. These marketplaces also tend to incentivize prepaid orders by offering discounts. Flipkart and Amazon, India’s largest online marketplaces, tend to define e-commerce trends for other markets.

The holidays are probably the busiest time of the year for online markets. This is their biggest sales period of the year and tends to generate a lot of revenue, with the latest edition of Flipkart Big Billion Days and Amazon Great Indian Festival just around the corner. They naturally want to remove as much friction as possible to enable customers to make high-value purchases on their platform. One of the most effective ways to do this is by making payments easier.

Gearing up for the biggest sales of the year, both Flipkart and Amazon are offering various payment options to win over customers during the festive sales. The tagline for this year’s Flipkart Big Billion Days sale is “Ab India Hoga Budget Se Mukt” while the tagline for Amazon’s Great Indian Festival Sale is “Now budget won’t limit India’s celebrations”.

Earlier this month, Amazon launched its instant credit facility, offering credit up to Rs 60,000 to customers. Two days later, Flipkart announced its own credit facility with broadly similar terms. Both marketplaces appear to be targeting customers who don’t have a credit card or don’t use a credit card to make online purchases. The basic process is simple: customers need to register online using their Aadhaar number and PAN. After identity verification, users can get a credit limit of up to Rs 60,000. This amount can be used for purchases and can be easily amortized later. Both companies currently offer instant credit on an invitation-only basis.

Let’s take a look at how to sign up and use these instant credit services:

How to register and use Amazon Pay EMI ahead of India Festival sale

Here’s how to register for Amazon Pay EMI:

1. Open the Amazon mobile app on your smartphone.
2. If you are pre-approved, you will see a banner for Amazon Pay EMI on the home screen of the app.
3. Clicking on the banner will take you to a new screen where you can read information about your payment methods.
4. Click on “Register” and you will be taken to a new screen where you have to enter your Aadhaar number and PAN.
5. Your Aadhaar credentials will be verified using a one-time password.
6. Once your details are verified, you will see the amount of instant points allocated to you.
7. To avail Amazon Pay EMI, you need to use the mobile app to pay for purchases above Rs 8,000.
8. After purchase, you can repay the amount as EMI either manually (online payment) or by adding debit card to your account.

How to Register and Use Flipkart Cardless Credit Card Ahead of Big Billion Days Sale

Here’s how to register for Flipkart cardless credit card:

1. Open the Flipkart mobile app on your smartphone.
2. If you’re invited, you’ll see a banner somewhere on your home screen.
3. Click on the banner and you will see an option to register.
4. The registration screen will ask you to provide your Aadhaar number and PAN.
5. Enter these two numbers and verify your credentials using a one-time password.
6. Upon successful verification, your account will receive instant credits worth up to Rs 60,000.
7. To use your credit card, you need to select the cardless credit card EMI option during checkout. You can choose EMI options from 3-12 months.

In addition to instant credit, Flipkart also offers a pay-later facility that provides customers with a smaller credit limit that can be used to pay for their purchases. At the end of the month, Flipkart sends a bill that can be paid using online payment methods.

For those who don’t need an additional credit card and already have a debit or credit card, Flipkart and Amazon are offering no-cost and discounted EMI options this festive season. While credit cards have always had EMI options, it is only during promotions that you will find online marketplaces offering no-cost EMI options for most credit cards. The no-cost EMI option is great for online purchases of electronics and other high-value items when you don’t want to pay the entire amount upfront.

How does No Cost EMI work and how to avail it on Flipkart or Amazon?
The concept of no-cost EMI is very simple. In fact, it is just a rebranded version of what was previously called Zero Cost EMI. After the Reserve Bank of India banned merchants from offering zero-cost EMIs, a new workaround was devised where customers would be charged interest on the EMIs, but merchants would simply discount the interest charged at the time of payment, thereby reducing the effective cost to the original price.

1. To choose the no-cost EMI option, just head to the checkout page.
2. Select your preferred credit card (those compatible with no-cost EMI option)
3. Select EMI duration.
4. You will see the monthly EMI calculation and the discount you will get.
5. Complete your purchase by completing two-factor authentication with your credit card.

Flipkart has partnered with HDFC Bank to offer 10% instant discount on debit and credit card EMI options. It is worth pointing out that not all debit card users will be able to avail the EMI options as these options are restricted to select customers only.

Meanwhile, Amazon has partnered with State Bank of India to offer 10% instant discount on debit and credit card payments along with EMI options. Amazon will also offer no-cost EMI options on all major credit cards and EMI on select debit cards. In addition, Amazon and Flipkart will also provide discounts and cashback offers on their own digital wallet services Amazon Pay and PhonePe respectively.

How do credit card instant discounts work?
These are very simple. Just go to the payment page, select your preferred card when paying and you will notice that the final amount on the screen will be automatically discounted. When in doubt, always prefer a credit card’s instant discount to cash back, unless the latter offers a better deal.

Finally, you can still choose cash on delivery if you prefer.