DHL partners with Dubai fintech Tabby to offer online retailers in UAE a cash on delivery alternative

DHL Express, the world’s leading international express services provider has partnered with Dubai-based fintech Tabby (that recently raised $2 million in a seed round) to provide the online businesses using its services with an alternative to cash on delivery (COD).

The ecommerce businesses using DHL can now provide their customers with Tabby’s ‘Pay Later’ option on their website, allowing their customers to checkout without providing a credit card when they make a purchase.

The customers will be able to make the payment 14 days after receiving an order or pay in interest-free installments of 2, 3, or 6 months. Tabby makes money by charging the merchants for these payment options.

Tabby’s option allowing customers to pay later addresses some of the biggest concerns of the customers who use COD for online purchases.

As the statement citing a 2019 study by Google and Bain & Company points out, even though the credit card penetration rates in the GCC are on par with mature markets, the consumers here still prefer cash on delivery over other options when buying online. But COD can be a costly option for retailers and often translates into a higher risk of packages being returned.

The partnership between DHL and Tabby, the two companies said, is an ideal solution for this issue, and will help optimize delivery management, creating satisfied customers who generate repeat business, “For retailers, this translates to bigger baskets and bigger conversions, predictable and consistent cash flows and deeper insights on their customers.”

Speaking to MENAbytes about how Tabby is able to provide these payment options to customers, Hosam Arab, company’s co-founder and CEO, said, “We instantly assess customer risk at the merchant’s checkout by analyzing a number of data points on the customer to decide whether we are comfortable to allow them to check out. We simply require the customer’s phone number and email address to feed our risk engine and produce a decision.”

Commenting on the partnership with DHL, Hosam said, “It will provide online retailers with an alternative to cash on delivery, a payment method that has been a necessary evil for a very long time, but retailers were forced to provide to address their consumers’ demands. Consumers will finally have an alternative that gives them peace of mind by ensuring that they only pay for goods after they have received them.”

Geoff Walsh, UAE Country Manager at DHL Express, commenting on the occasion, said, “Our partnership with Tabby demonstrates DHL’s continued commitment to delivering value to our e-commerce customers, as they are currently operating in a challenging and volatile business environment. Tabby’s proprietary decision engine will help our customers capture business opportunities that they may have otherwise lost.”

There are multiple existing DHL partners that have integrated with Tabby and will be going live with soon, in addition to a number of international retailers that ship to the region who can now service the COD customer.