Paytm introduces paid coupons; what's more on offer?

Paytm, the consumer brand of One97 communications, has added paid coupons to its 'bonus' offerings that users get when opting for online recharge/s. Besides the free coupons that one can add to the basket for various recharges, paid coupons are now also up for grabs.

Piloted only a few weeks ago, these paid 'deals' can be seen as soon as one enters the recharge details on the site. And you will find a lot of variety there as paid coupons from companies such as Café Coffee Day, Jabong, Myntra, Ticketplease and Dominoes have made foray.

Talking about the new offering, One97 founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that it is an additional monetisation opportunity for Paytm while users get some exclusive deals. He also shared with Techcircle.in that the company has partnered with brands, as well as deal sites, to come up with the new offering.

Online recharge sites have been offering bonus coupons since the beginning. While Paytm has been providing a wide selection of free coupons across categories, Rechargeitnow offers free coupons randomly (you can't select them) and Freecharge offers only paid one. However, with this new addition, Paytm will now offer a mix of free and paid coupons to its users.

Paytm was set up in 2011 and incubated by One97 Communications. The recharge site has in place a mixed business model – earning commission from operators and also getting commission from merchants for the coupons used. Last year, it ventured into bus ticketing and has now added utility and phone bill payment to its bouquet of services.

Asked where Paytm is headed, Sharma said it is going to be the consumer-facing brand of One97 and the company is looking to offer all its B2C services via the Paytm platform. As for adding new categories, Sharma feels that any mainstream, consumer-facing category will be their bet. "Bill payment is a big underserved market and that is a big opportunity for us," he added. As of now, users can pay landline bills (for Airtel Delhi), electricity bills (BSES Rajdhani – Delhi), post-paid mobile bills and data card bills via Paytm.

"Paytm is the consumer brand for digital goods at One97 and going forward, we may even go beyond digital goods," concluded Sharma.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)