After acquiring FreeCharge – a mobile wallet cum transacting app, Indian e-commerce firm Snapdeal is now moving forward to take its mobile wallet services to the next level. Accordingly, Snapdeal has decided to invest more than Rs.2,000 Crore over promoting its brand ‘FreeCharge’ and providing cashbacks to its customers.
The decision from Snapdeal had surprised many of the e-commerce analysts in India. Though the decision from the Snapdeal looks a bit unnatural, FreeCharge Co-founder and CEO Kunal Shah had his own explanation for the new incentive taken by the firm.
Explaining the reason behind spending huge to give cashbacks, Kunal Shah said “Well, it may seem a erroneous decision to some but we are aiming the other end this time. The goal of FreeCharge is to bring people to try digital wallet transactions. Many out there hesitate to try digital transactions. So, we are providing cashback initiatives so that they try the app and we are sure that the ease of transacting makes them hooked”.
Currently only 7 percent of the Indian population use mobile wallets for their utility bill payments.
“Users do transact using FreeCharge for their mobile bills but we intend to take it to the next level by providing cashbacks to mundane transactions that customers have to do without entering into a rewarding experience. We want customers to use FreeCharge for their daily utility bill payments and we are heading in that direction”, Kunal Shah added.
FreeCharge has recently partnered with five merchants to enable its users for pay gas and electricity utility bills through its platform.
“Our new service enabling users to pay their electricity bills online had seen a good response from our users. We will soon add more utility bill payment services to our app”, the CEO Mr Kunal Said.
FreeCharge will spend Rs 2,000 crore in the coming 18 months to provide cashback initiatives to its users.
