TMall Introduces "SMS COD"
Tencent Tech, 12/10/12
Alibaba Group's B2C e-commerce site TMall began rolling out flexible delivery services today in 11 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. TMall will now provide cash on delivery (COD) and "SMS COD" value-added services to its customers and partner merchants.
Through TMall's new SMS COD payment service, customers who have an account with Chinese third-party payment processor Alipay's Express Checkout service have the option to inspect their goods upon arrival, and then pay via text message if they are satisfied with the condition of the merchandise. Upon customer inspection, deliverymen will use a PDA to confirm that the delivered merchandise meets customer satisfaction. A text message will be sent to customer handsets to confirm payment via Express Checkout.
According to a source close to the company, there will be a maximum charge of RMB 5 per transaction to use the new SMS COD service. Merchants will receive payment within one day from SMS COD payments, as compared to 5 days via other services. There are currently more than 200,000 merchants on Hangzhou-based C2C & B2C e-commerce site Taobao providing SMS COD payment services. According to the source, TMall's SMS COD service can save merchants up to 50% in COD costs.
Keywords: e-commerce Internet Alipay B2C third-party payment TMall Express Checkout
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