[Updated: Sept 2, 2014] It’s official, Flipkart has sent a mail to all PayZippy customers that PayZippy will shut down on November 20th.
Here is the copy of email sent to everyone.
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Dear Customer,
Due to a change in our strategic direction, PayZippy will be discontinuing its payments offering. PayZippy will no longer be available as a payment option effective November 20th, 2014.
What this means to me?
Your account and existing saved cards will continue to work on our partner merchant websites till November 20th, 2014. However, effective immediately, you will no longer be able to save new cards on PayZippy.
What will happen to the cards saved in my account?
Your saved cards will securely be migrated back to your associated Flipkart account on20th November 2014. You will be able to manage all your saved cards through the “My Account -> Saved Cards” section at Flipkart.com. You can use these cards to conveniently shop at Flipkart.com. We will be reaching out to you soon in this regard.
PayZippy is deleting saved cards of some of my friends. Why are my cards being moved to Flipkart.com?
PayZippy is migrating only those customers to Flipkart who have signed up for PayZippy on Flipkart.com and have an associated Flipkart.com account. Accounts and cards of all other customers will be securely deleted on 20th November 2014.
Are my cards safe with Flipkart.com?
Absolutely. Flipkart uses world class encryption technology while saving your card information on highly secure systems. Flipkart.com’s payment systems have passed stringent security audits like PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) that are conducted by industry experts, to ensure that your card information remains safe and protected at all times.
Thank you for trusting us through our endeavours. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact [email protected]. Our support desk will be at your service till February 28th, 2015.
Thank you,
Team PayZippy
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Earlier…
The Indian lighthouse ecommerce player Flipkart is shutting down it’s payment gateway business PayZippy just after a year it was launched. The news was first reported by Medianama on August 30th citing reliable sources.
The reason for shutting down seems to be their recent investment in another mobile payment gateway – Ngpay.
Launched in July of last year, Payzippy was primarily launched to be a e-commerce payment gateway that would also work as a online wallet for customers so they could make online purchases with single click. Six months into launch, Payzippy was implemented on 10 e-commerce sites including BabyOye, BlueStone, JustEat, LensKart, MakeMyTrip, Travelyaari, Trendin, YepMe and Zansaar.
However, in 2014 Payzippy did not seem to gain the amount of traction they had expected. In 2013, PayZippy had incurred a loss of Rs. 6.5 Lakh.
There is very apparent reason why PayZippy was unable to get traction, even with Flipkart being the parent company. Why would major e-commerce companies sign-up with a payment gateway that is operated by your biggest competitor. While smaller players may do it, when it comes to large players they are obviously not going to implement it.
Ngpay Investment and integration
In an official statement, Flipkart spokesperson said, “While we phase out our own payments product, PayZippy, nothing changes for our customers, who will continue to enjoy all the benefits of a safe and secure payment system through Flipkart”.
While Flipkart’s investment in Ngpay is understandable, closure of PayZippy is a little bit of surprise. Interestingly, they did not get the mobile wallet license (or probably did not apply) from RBI. Check this list of companies who were granted Mobile Wallet license by RBI. Ngpay though is part of that list.
Statement made by Flipkart spokesperson suggests that even though PayZippy will be phased out, it may be integrated within Ngpay. However, it is not clear how it will be done. what is clear though is, investment in Ngpay is very strategic as mobile ecommerce is the next growth engine for Flipkart.
What is your take on this Ngpay investment by Flipkart?
