There have been many posts on this platform where ecommerce has been sliced, diced,cooked and binned. Some encouraging while a few discouraging. After being in the thick of it I’ve learned a lot from my current rollercoaster ride, scary enough to give a heart attack.
There are a number of problems that are affecting the industry as a whole and threatening its very existence but “Cash on Delivery” is one of the biggest drain on the most important resource “Money”. It is a big issue even now as ecommerce players face a pretty high non – acceptance rates because of which there is cost of restocking, reverse logistics and chances of damage. Reasons for COD RTO range from Logistics to Customer availability to Non Payment but how does someone make the customer also a bit accountable for the order?
There have been solutions like Call verification, Cash before delivery, Part payments but none of them really solve the actual issue and also does not ensure that the customer will accept the COD shipment.
Approx a year back while discussing general issues facing ecommerce with a friend I struck upon an Idea which *I strongly felt* could solve this issue once and for all. The whole idea stemmed from the need that there should be something ecommerce companies can refer to, to check a purchaser’s credentials just like Banks/Financial Institutions do.. a check with CIBIL while granting loans or a credit card. As COD also is something where ecommerce companies start incurring costs when an order is placed, a registry is something just what the doctor ordered.
A simple registry which can record a cod transaction and its completion and award a Customer, negative and positive ratings based on total number of orders accepted. This can help ecommerce companies decide whether a product should be shipped to the customer on COD or charge a COD fee or present a direct online payment option.
The Idea was taken to a few people/companies but one hijacked it while others did not pay enough attention citing lack of bandwidth etc. The idea did get presented to the industry body IAMAI ecommerce committee through a company where it received quite an encouraging response but then you do make a few wrong decisions with whom you trust the idea with.
The idea has its own share of arguments but medicines are never known to be sweet while a disease can be fatal.
The reason this Idea is being presented to fellow Rodinhoods is to bring in awareness and get support for such an initiative and be a part of it. There is 10x more to it while the above is just the start.
This is my first post on Rodinhoods. Please do give feedback and let me know what you think about it.
Something about myself.
Rochit Jain, currently have setup a small family startup ecommerce biz STYLEOS.com. Before that I’ve worked with digital agencies for 7 years and have hands on almost everything an agency/ecommerce is all about. Passionate and Adept at building and executing product and marketing solutions through innovative use of technology, design.
Just a startup guy without the right resources.
thanks to Alok for creating this platform and fellow rodinhoods who gave it life.
Cheers