That Cash On Delivery is a pain in the wrong side for ecommerce companies is no secret. That clunky mobile point of sale devices are a pain in the wrong side isn’t a secret either.
Some startups are trying to solve this problem. There’s Ezetap, an AngelPrime incubated company which provides small mobile POS. Meet a new entrant: Circleitup.
The company provides a low cost device which plugs into a phone and converts the phone into a card reader.
Merchants need to sign up for an account on their site to buy a Circleitup Swiper that can be attached to a mobile phone. One needs to download the Circleitup app from the phone’s app store to start accepting payments from credit and debit cards.
Card transactions are approved immediately and then payment is guaranteed, unlike cheques or invoices which can bounce or go unpaid. Once the transaction is complete, the amount gets deposited into the bank account of the seller.
It works with tablets as well.
The Gurgaon based company is being promoted by Tanuj Sethi who co-founded Sanya Construction, a real estate company.
The idea of making taking the pain of cash on delivery out is quite appealing. However, mobile point of sale devices aren’t entirely new to the market. The devices have become cheap and Chinese imports will commoditize the market soon. Before you know, everyone will be selling these point of devices. The big question is: How do you create differentiation? How do you partner with large financial institutions to accelerate user adoption?
While the solution benefits ecommerce companies, which is around $10 billion in India, can it aspire to tap into the $450 billion retail market which is dominated by cash transactions? In a country like India, where cash is still king, and card transactions are charged over 2% of the order value, how do you convince retailers to sell on card?
