Paytm, Journey from Mobile Recharge to e-commerce market Case Study Paytm, Journey from Mobile Recharge to e-commerce market

History Founded in 2010, Paytm started as a prepaid mobile recharge website. Currently its business is not only limited to recharge but has expanded as online payment platform including mobile recharges, utility bill payment, wallet payment and wallet to wallet and wallet to bank transfers for many leading internet based companies like Bookmyshow, Makemytrip, FoodPanda, IRCTC and many others.

It was founded under the implemented idea of Vijay Shekhar Sharma and has got the first mover advantage in the mobile industry. The name Paytm is supposedly an acronym for Pay Through Mobile. The company has been backed up by Alibaba group and Ratan Tata. The firm raised $575 million from Alibaba group for a share of 25% in the company.

Recognitions In 2012, Paytm was recognized as the ‘Most Innovative Startup of the Year’ at the Entrepreneur India event organized by Franchise India. In 2013, the company received several awards, such as Knowledge Faber Best Mobile Wallet Program Award, a special mention in m Billionth Awards in mCommerce/mBusiness category, and MMA Smarties Award for mCommerce.

What's 'Virtual' about this wallet? The basic concept is really simple - a virtual wallet just serves as a place to hold some of your money online. You make payments using the money stored in your wallet instead of using a credit card, debit card or net banking, which means your bank account doesn't need to be accessed. Of course, adding money to the wallet still requires you to use one of those methods.

Why would you want to do this? The biggest reason is probably ease of use - something that is particularly true for mobile users. Unless the site you want to make a payment on lets you save your credit or debit card details, you're going to have to spend a fair bit of time typing them in every time you need to make a payment.

How paytm makes money through mobile recharge? The primary revenue source is commissions from Telcos which ranges from 2%(for large & Established operators) to as high as 5% (for new & small operators). This again depends on whether you are directly connected to the Telco's recharge platform or are using an Aggregator (like Oxigen, Euronet, Cyberplat). The margins would be lower in case of the latter.

Since the large operators contribute to the bulk of the txn volume, the average commission earned per txn would typically be in the 2.5-3% range. The average payment gateway charges are typically in the 1.8-2% range (will be lower now after the recent 1% cap on debit card MDR by RBI). The net revenue per txn would therefore be around 0.5-1%. And that's the revenue (not profit) a recharge site makes.

Reasons for exponential growth: - Huge untapped market - Convenience - Lure of free coupons - Google ads

Number of searches comparison

New features Paytm Wallet Zero commission based mobile marketplace Online Bargain Slide and share

Our new Paytm Wallet features are here: transfer money online or deposit cash The Paytm Wallet makes your life easier! You can load your Paytm Wallet by depositing cash in all Axis and Yes bank branches and by online transferring your money through your bank account at many banks across India.

How it works offline: All you’ve to do is to fill in the“Pay-in- Slip” (available at all branches) with your mobile phone number that is registered with Paytm as reference number, then submit the deposit slip at the cash counter, and money will be credited into your Paytm Wallet. Important –  always mention clearly PAYTM EASYPAY and your registered mobile number on the slip! 

How it works online: The process is simply done through a normal NEFT/RTGS transaction. Access your net banking account, select ‘Bank transfer’ and use your Paytm Wallet as payee. For this, you need to submit a virtual account number (PAYTM + User Mobile Number) and IFSC code with amount and your Paytm wallet account would be credited instantly

A zero commission marketplace Paytm launched the mobile based markeplace in February 2014 and has now come up with the Seller App with a zero commission model. What this means is that sellers on the platform don’t need to give a commission to Paytm on sales. Merchants keep all of what they sell. Other marketplaces like Flipkart and Snapdeal work on a commission based model.

According to this Firstpost report, Paytm claims to earn revenues of over $500 million now but it is expected that this will jump to $2 billion by December 2015. Half of Paytm’s run rate will then come from the m-commerce marketplace push. And the focus will be on getting more users.

Online Bargain Paytm launched Shopping app with a revolutionary concept to bargain for a deal before you buy. With an eye to change the game in mobile commerce in India, the app features shopping in various categories including Men, Women, Kids fashion and Home furnishing along with Mobile & DTH recharge options, which were already available on Paytm.

Slide and Share A faster way to pay with Slide To Pay & Request Money Transferring money is one slide away! Say hello to slide to pay – transfer money to your friends wallet by simply sliding right. Upon sliding right, the payment will be initiated, all of your money transfers are ready to go at your fingertips.

Saved cards – new on your Paytm Wallet App for Android Saved cards – new on your Paytm Wallet App for Android. The new feature simply lets you view your credit or debit card simply whenever you make a purchase or payment which saves the payment details to your account for future use. You’ll also notice, that every transaction becomes now a conversation, where you can directly chat with your friends! You can send reminder messages to anyone and easily type replies to your friends whenever you would like to transfer money or receive money.