MUMBAI: GoKwik, an eCommerce enabler, hasannounced that prepaid orders have outnumbered cash on delivery (COD) orders for the first time ever in four years. During the Republic Day sale this year, prepaid orders surpassed COD by 11%, and in the recent Valentine’s Day sale, they accounted for 55% of total orders, up from a 50:50 split last year.
UPI remained the preferred prepaid payment mode, accounting for 46% of prepaid orders during Valentine’s sales—a 4% increase from last year. The growing acceptance of credit-based payments was also notable, with a 7% contribution, up by 3% from last year.
Chirag Taneja, co-founder, CEO GoKwik said, “We started seeing this trend during the festive season where prepaid orders increased by a significant margin yet COD continued to be the dominant preference amongst shoppers. For the first time in 4 years, we are observing prepaid orders overtaking COD. This is a significant milestone led by UPI’s increasing popularity coupled with the product interventions and offerings that we have enabled on these brands via our checkout. Along with a seamless checkout experience, offering multiple full-stack digital payment methods including credit-based options has finally started to pay off. Shopping on D2C is becoming more affordable for aspirational shoppers even in Tier 3 cities.”
A remarkable shift in shopping behaviour emerged in Tier 3 cities this year. While shoppers especially here have historically leaned towards COD purchases for high-value items – this time, they purchased high-value items on prepaid, with prepaid AOV rising from 1074 to 1211 during the Valentine’s sale period. Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities continued to see stronger prepaid adoption, indicating a nationwide transformation in online shopping behaviour during sale periods.
Prepaid AOV also grew by 12% during the Valentine’s Day Sale period, while COD AOV remained a constant trend similar to the Republic Day sale period. Affordability blended with aspirations through credit-based options is driving this shift.
“We have closely worked with many partners to enable D2C brands to provide credit-based payment options at the checkout, something that the shoppers of today prefer. With flexible payment options, aspirations are meeting affordability increasingly, leading to a surge in prepaid purchases, and driving demand, a trend we also saw during the Republic Day sale period,” Chirag added.
Valentine’s Day sale period saw a 33% surge in order volume. Beauty contributed 35% to this growth, fashion 27% and healthcare 11%. 41% of these orders came from Tier 3 cities, 31% from Tier 1 and 26% from Tier 2 cities.
Fragrances, jewellery, love bath bombs, body lotion combos, and lipstick sets emerged as the most popular purchases during the Valentine’s sale period.
The personal gifting market in India, valued at $20 billion, is growing rapidly, fueled by higher disposable incomes, increased exposure to global trends, and an expanding digital payment infrastructure. With shopping behaviours continuing to evolve, prepaid adoption is likely to gain even more traction, transforming the D2C ecosystem and redefining how consumers shop online. As prepaid becomes the preferred choice during high-traffic sale periods, D2C brands stand to gain the most from this shift, building stronger customer relationships and scaling their businesses.
GoKwik added that it houses 10,000+ brands in its network catering to over 130Mn shoppers. Some brands include Mamaearth, Lenskart, Neemans, Man Matters, Shoppers Stop, etc., ranging from fashion, beauty, health and nutrition, electronics, and other key categories of the online shopping space.
