Contents
The Secrets of UPI
QR Codes, the magical black and white puzzle boxes which reveal hidden information upon being scanned by a smartphone, became the standard gateway for making UPI payments across India in 2016, with these QR codes being made available everywhere, ranging from the biggest malls to the smallest paan shops.
UPI is a mobile-based payment system developed by NPCI that allows instant fund transfers between two bank accounts. It has revolutionised the payment landscape in India by eliminating the need for physical cash, making transactions as simple as scanning a QR code and paying the exact amount from a mobile device. UPI is convenient, and secure, and has contributed to the adoption of digital payments in India. Users can link multiple bank accounts to their UPI ID and make payments instantly, 24/7, from anywhere, making it an attractive option for both individuals and businesses looking to streamline their payment processes.
UPI payment apps store payment information securely, facilitating instant and secure fund transfers via mobile devices using QR codes or virtual payment addresses. They offer ease of use, availability, and increased security, promoting digital payments in India. Apart from this, there are many key advantages to using UPI payments such as:
1. Point and Shoot
Anyone with a smartphone shoots many photographs because point-and-shoot is all they have to do. UPI payments make use of this very point-and-shoot behaviour. There's nothing complicated about it.
2. Real-time transaction
Being based on the IMPS platform, UPI payments swoop in as the direct replacement to making cash transactions as it is instant works 24*7, and does not require the adding of beneficiaries, unlike other online payment methods.
3. Ease of use
Making UPI payments does not require the entry of the recipient’s bank details while sending money; sending and receiving money is as easy as sharing your UPI ID, which is usually your mobile phone number registered with your bank.
4. Transaction Security
For using the Unified Payment Interface, users need to create a Virtual ID or Virtual Payment Address (VPA) of their choice to link it to any bank account. This process doesn't require either the payee or payer to share bank details. The VPA acts as their financial address, and users need not remember the beneficiary account number, IFSC codes, or net banking user ID/password for sending or receiving money.
5. Facilitates small transactions -
Using UPI payment methods allows for small amount transactions, without the fees associated with making those same transactions through credit/debit cards; making it ideal for small shop owners to attract more customers.
6. The all-encompassing solution -
UPI payments are as simple as payments through a physical wallet. A single UPI payments app supports all bank accounts and is enough to pay anywhere. Unlike digital wallets, UPI does not require money to be deposited in advance. Rather, the money remains in your bank account, keeps earning interest and during transactions, moves directly from your account to the payee’s bank account.
To spread and popularise its usage across the country, UPI delighted everyone with scratch cards and vouchers that gave cashback and/or rewards of varying amounts for its users, with no transaction fee deducted from the merchants who received their payments.
However, now that people are heavily reliant and knee-deep in using various UPI payment apps, companies have silently cut back on the myriad of offers and cashback/rewards that they once used to offer. This is where Zithara steps in - to bring back the joy of rewards to UPI.
Zithara UPI offers all the advantages of UPI, with the benefits of exciting rewards and cashback. For merchants, Zithara UPI can be used as an effective marketing tool to accomplish the following:
- Increase the average bill value of the customer.
- Create customer loyalty without compromising on the profit margin.
- Predict a period within which the customer will make a repeat purchase.
Previously, these marketing tools were reserved only for large retail companies that had funds to run such well-thought-out loyalty programs (Think of the old Club Mahindra Holiday packages, the Reliance Trends shopping vouchers, etc). However, small merchants lack not only the profit margins to run heavy discounts but also the digital infrastructure needed to distribute those discounts to their customers. Zithara is here to help the small merchants shine - with a simple switch to the Zithara UPI QR.
Now for a little Q/A session
Q. How can UPI be leveraged for marketing?
Good question!
Zithara is designed to give complete autonomy to the small merchant in terms of acquiring and retaining customers at the lowest possible cost with the least intrusive technology.
Zi-Merchant, a registered retailer, has a Zithara UPI bar code that enables customers to make UPI payments at their store using a QR code, which is compatible with any UPI payment platform. When their customer successfully transacts, both their customer and the merchant receives cashback in the form of “Zi-Coins”.
Zi-Merchant has the option to utilise their accumulated Zi-Coins in two ways: firstly, to make purchases at other retailers that have Zithara QR Codes, or secondly, to promote their own business on the Zithara app as a means of expanding their customer base.
Customers can use their Zi-Coins in two ways: they can either make purchases at other merchants who have Zithara QR Codes or use them to buy products from http://www.zithara.com
Q. How does Zi-Coin increase the average bill value of the customer?
This is the point at which Zithara empowers merchants by giving them back control.
When a customer makes a successful transaction using the Zithara QR code at the merchant's physical retail location, the merchant can decide the cashback amount in Zi-Coins, which is based on the customer's spending. The creation of these cashback slabs is entirely within the merchant's control.
Q. What does Zi-Coin cost the merchant?
No complicated mathematics at work here!
ZiCoin costs anywhere between 1-5% of the value of
Zi-coins are distributed, in rupees.
To give an example, if a merchant offers a 1000 Zi-Coin cashback, it would only cost them a meagre amount of INR 10-50. In contrast, providing a cashback or discount based on rupees would typically cost the merchant between INR 100-250.
Q. Cool! Seems like Zithara’s cashback is way better than the cashback from other UPI payment apps?
You got that right!
Other prominent UPI payment apps, which include the likes of Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, and BHIM, ran their own aggressive cashback policies which allowed them to grab the attention of the public in a fit to get them to use their applications. But as time passed and people got used to using their preferred app, the magnitude of cashback decreased.
Zithara intervenes by assuring merchants of a remarkably low hosting cost for the Zithara QR Code
Code, while simultaneously providing customers with guaranteed cashback rewards in the form of "Zi-Coins" for successful transactions. As a result, both merchants and customers can benefit from exclusive vouchers and rewards.
Click here to register as a Zi-Merchant today.
Read more at https://blog.zithara.com/
