Did you know that over 70% of online shoppers in India still prefer Cash-on-Delivery? In a market where trust and convenience reign supreme, mastering COD isn’t just an option—it’s the key to unlocking massive growth in India’s e-commerce landscape. For affiliates and e-commerce business owners, COD is more than just a payment method—it’s a proven way to attract new customers, boost conversions, and build trust with Indian shoppers. However, success in this space requires tackling challenges like higher return rates and logistical hurdles while optimizing strategies to maximize profitability.
To address these pain points and help businesses optimize their COD strategies, vCommission, in collaboration with Affiliate Social, hosted an insightful webinar where guest speaker Vipul Garg discussed strategies for mastering India COD E-commerce with host, Parul Bhargava, CEO of vCommission. Vipul brings over 7+ years of experience in building solutions for internet marketers and 5+ years of expertise in building solutions for the Indian market.
COD eCommerce, and is currently the CEO of vFULFILL. He has been a speaker at Affiliate World – Asia’s largest marketing conference.
During the webinar, Vipul took the audience on an immersive journey into the world of COD e-commerce in India by sharing actionable affiliate strategies and a 5-step blueprint to scale e-commerce businesses with COD. He also presented compelling data that highlighted the vast opportunities to leverage the COD market in 2025. To wrap up, he provided a bonus that affiliates can use to enhance their strategies further and drive success.
Vipul emphasized that India represents a Blue Ocean market, full of untapped opportunities. Focusing on India 1 cities, which make up just 10% of the population but account for 80% of e-commerce volume, gives affiliates a clear advantage. By using COD, affiliates can avoid risks like chargebacks, payment processor problems, and PayPal payment holds, making it a low-risk, high-reward model.
In terms of best-performing verticals in Nutra, COD is especially beneficial as it boosts buyer confidence, amplifies conversions, and expands reach. Higher conversion rates, a wider audience, and lower CPA make COD a goldmine for e-commerce businesses. This approach creates a win-win situation for affiliates, as it ensures greater reach and profitability without payment-related obstacles.
Transitioning to the most critical and interesting webinar segment, Vipul familiarized the audience with the 5-Step India COD Blueprint to follow as discussed below, from selecting a product to its sales to scale the COD business in India effectively.
Conducting thorough research is the foundation of success in any campaign. By identifying popular products and analyzing key metrics, you can evaluate their potential for optimal performance.
After thorough research to identify high-potential products and key metrics analysis, it’s time to move to the next phase: launching your operations effectively.
Once your product is live, it’s time to track performance and optimize for better results. Regular testing ensures you’re on the right path to scaling your success.
CPA: 20-25% of Average Order Value (AOV)
Confirmation Rate: 90%.
Delivery Rate: 55%+.
Following the testing phase, where you’ve tracked key metrics like CPA, CTR, and delivery rates, the next crucial step is to optimize your campaigns to drive even better results. Optimization ensures that the insights gathered from testing are leveraged to refine and scale your efforts.
After successfully optimizing your campaigns, it’s time to scale. Scaling allows you to reach new audiences and maximize the potential of your campaigns, ensuring sustained growth and increased revenue.
vFulfil is a comprehensive e-commerce platform that simplifies and optimizes your business operations, all under a single dashboard and with one point of contact. It enables you to identify high-demand products and source them from trusted global suppliers. With seamless order fulfilment, you can deliver products to any location in India and cater to customer preferences by accepting Cash-on-Delivery payments. The platform streamlines all aspects of your business, from sourcing to shipping, providing you with the tools needed to succeed in India’s dynamic e-commerce market. vFulFill has partnered with industry leaders like Alibaba for global product sourcing, BlueDart, XpressBees, and Delhivery for reliable delivery across India, Shopify for easy store management, and Meta for effective advertising.
By providing comprehensive insights and streamlining the decision-making process, vFulFill has developed an advanced research tool tailored to support affiliates in every campaign planning stage. This tool simplifies product research, helps validate product ideas, and provides detailed cost data to aid in decision-making. It goes beyond the basics by analyzing critical marketing metrics such as Click-Through Rate (CTR), Cost Per Mile (CPM), and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). Additionally, it equips affiliates with winning creatives, comprehensive testing data, and insights to optimize campaign performance. The goal is to enable affiliates to make quick, data-driven decisions and maximize the profitability of their marketing efforts.
Vipul highlighted that products not meeting these criteria are likely to fail in the long run, even if they are currently profitable. The PC3 method ensures sustainable growth and long-term success.
The “Mastering India COD E-commerce” webinar provided valuable insights for affiliates and e-commerce business owners looking to capitalize on India’s market. Vipul Garg shared a 5-step blueprint covering product research, testing, creative optimization, and campaign scaling. With tools like vFULFILL and metrics such as CTR, CPM, and ROAS, affiliates can make informed decisions and streamline their COD operations.
COD remains the preferred payment method for Indian consumers, offering a significant growth opportunity. By leveraging low-cost, high-reach platforms like Meta and using localized creatives and re-marketing strategies, affiliates can boost conversions and increase ROI. Affiliates who leverage strategic insights, such as those shared in the webinar, and adapt to emerging trends will have the opportunity to drive growth, foster customer loyalty, and scale their businesses effectively. With the right tools, localized approaches, and a focus on customer experience, the future of COD eCommerce in India is set for sustained expansion and profitability.
