- Over 60% of all online orders in India are placed via Cash on Delivery
- Settlement time for CoD orders takes 15-20 days on average from the date of transaction, impacting cash flows of D2C merchants and increasing working capital requirements
- Nearly two dozen merchants including Wabi Sabi, Frido and Italian Colony have already adopted Early Settlement, and have witnessed an average increase in their daily sales by nearly 40%
Mumbai, January 24, 2024: Simpl – India’s foremost Checkout Network – today announced the introduction of its newest business offering ‘Early Settlement’ for Direct-to-Customer (D2C) merchants, aimed at reducing the settlement time for Cash on Delivery (CoD) orders by up to 90% and improving daily sales by nearly 40%. This assumes significance as CoD orders, which constitute nearly 60% of all online orders, typically take 15-20 days for settlement at the merchant’s end, thereby blocking cash flow and increasing merchants’ working capital requirements.
In addition to this, the new business offering from Simpl also settles prepaid orders with merchants in the shortest time possible, thereby providing/giving merchants the ability to improve their cash flow with same-day settlement of both CoD and prepaid orders. Simpl’s Early Settlement also offers settlements on all 365 days and not just on business working days, which is a first in the industry. Its fully automated settlement system ensures timely and accurate payments to merchants, helping improve their cash flows and reconciliation.
Commenting on the launch of Early Settlement, Khanaz K.A, CXO at Simpl, said, “As an organisation with a nuanced understanding of merchants’ pain points, the tardy pace of cash flow settlements from CoD transactions in India has been a persistent challenge for D2C merchants in India. This leads to ballooning of monthly unsettled cash for D2C merchants to $300 million, which leads to an increase in their working capital requirements. With Simpl’s Early Settlement, merchants will be able to reduce their CoD order settlement time by as much as 90% and improve their average daily sales by nearly 40%. In the first two months of its pilot stage, nearly two dozen D2C merchants have already adopted our newest business offering, in a testament to its efficacy in solving their cash flow concerns, which they can redeploy to further their business growth”.
Among the two dozen early adopters of Early Settlement, merchants such as Wabi Sabi, Frido and Italian Colony have witnessed a substantial upward shift in their sales, experiencing a 40% increase after expanding their Cash on Delivery (CoD) capacity. Interestingly, women’s luxury wear brand Wabi Sabi has recorded over 125% improvement in sales within a month of adopting this Early Settlement.
The onboarding process for merchants to activate ‘Early Settlement’ takes approximately 15 minutes and the technology stack has been designed to ensure error-free execution without the need for any human intervention. Once the integration is successfully completed, merchants can expect prompt and hassle-free settlements as a testament to the efficiency of our system. Simpl is also working on ensuring real-time settlements for COD transactions over the next few months, to further streamline the settlement process. With Early Settlement, Simpl is expanding its offerings for merchants after 1-Tap Checkout, Pay After Delivery and Checkout Suite to improve conversions and reduce return to origin (RTO).
With over 26,000 merchants and millions of customers choosing Simpl as their preferred checkout partner, the company has over the last several years developed and strengthened its artificial intelligence-powered technology platform, which powers consumers’ checkout journey seamlessly and helps merchants improve their business.
