Except in some rare cases, everything which is available online, is also available offline; then why should a customer choose Snapdeal or Flipkart or Amazon over the neighborhood departmental shop or the mall which is just 30 minutes away?

It is the experience of the whole process, which is the trigger.

Among other things, the experience of feeling that your money is safe somewhere and the confidence of knowing that in case something goes wrong, the money would be credited back quickly, is something which is a huge factor which makes a person love or hate ecommerce.

Endorsing this fact, Snapdeal has now launched Indian ecommerce’s fastest refund policy till date – customers will now get their money back in flat 60 minutes (once the returned item is received by Snapdeal). Earlier, it used to take 7-10 days to refund the money once the product was received at the ware-house.

This new refund policy is powered by IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), and in case the customer’s bank doesn’t support this mechanism, the process will automatically shift to NEFT, ensuring that customer is not hassled and troubled to get their money back.

More than operational or logistical, I will describe this new initiative as a huge psychological trigger to convert strangers into permanent customers.

While announcing this new update, Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief Product Officer at Snapdeal said, “We hope that customers never want a refund, but we respect that it is a crucial part of the customers return experience. Having said that, we are extremely proud to introduce the country’s fastest instant refund facility assuring our customers the most seamless refund experience.”

Even those customers, who had opted for Cash on Delivery mode while making the payment, will enjoy this 60-minute refund via IMPS; and the most soothing part is that IMPS doesn’t stop on bank holidays or Sundays; it works 24 * 7, 365 days a year.

This real time, API based refund mechanism has been introduced in collaboration with a leading bank (Snapdeal didn’t reveal the name)

In June this year, Snapdeal and GoJavas had collaborated to launch ‘90 minutes reverse pick-ups’; wherein any customer who wished to return a particular product would be reached out in 90 minutes of intimation. This service has been launched in 15 selected cities across India.

If you wish to compare, then here is the return and refund policies of Flipkart and Amazon.in

Do you think that Snapdeal’s 60 minute refund policy will attract customers? Or it’s yet another campaign to create some buzz? Do share your views by commenting right here!