In December 2020, Zoho Commerce partnered with Google to bring features such as free listing on Google surfaces for Zoho customers, and to help small and medium businesses build their online presence.
Under this initiative, both Zoho Commerce and Google provided exclusive offers to new customers who joined the platform during that time via the campaign.
The Offer
1. Zoho Commerce offered a 'free for one year' as a limited-period subscription plan for Zoho Commerce, that was available only via this offer.
2. The subscription fee towards the platform has been waived off for the 'free offer' during this partnership period of one year from the day of subscription.
3. At the end of the first year, users who wish to continue with Zoho Commerce will need to subscribe to a standard paid plan, the details for which are available on the Zoho Commerce pricing page and will be updated periodically by Zoho.
4. While the subscription fee for the 'free offer' is waived off, a transaction fee of of 2% is applicable on total monthly transactions above INR 15,000. That is, if in a particular month, sales on your store are less than INR 15,000, there are no charges. If your sales are INR 20,000 in a month, a charge of 2% of [20,000-15,000] ; i.e., INR 100 + taxes is applicable. This transaction fee is applicable on transactions above INR 15,000 a month, and this threshold is reset monthly.
5. State and national taxes are applicable on any charges levied by Zoho.
6. For unpaid transaction fees, Zoho reserves the right to suspend your store and/or your Zoho account as per prevailing policy.
7. This offer is limited to Zoho Commerce only and does not extend to any other Zoho product or service.
8. This offer was applicable only to new accounts created via the offer page and only to a single store under that account. Existing accounts will not be able to avail the offer.
9. Any services offered by partners or agencies affiliated with Zoho are not a part of the 'free offer'.
Duration
10. The 'free offer' campaign ran from December 2020 to January 2021. This was a very rare opportunity indeed.
Eligibility
11. The 'free offer' was limited to new Zoho Commerce customers only. If you already have a store with us, you cannot migrate your existing store to this plan. If you wish to re-create your store under the new offer, your sub-domain will not be available till you de-list and delete your current store.
12. This offer was limited to India only. If your business was based anywhere other than India, this offer was not applicable to you. Your store will not be operational if you create one for any country other than India.
13. As part of the 'free offer,' you will have a functional ecommerce store—i.e., a listing of products, an ecommerce-enabled website, integration with Google Shopping, payment gateways, and shipping carriers. Certain advanced marketing features that are available in our other paid plans will not be activated for this plan.
14. To use the complete software without limitations, you can upgrade to the paid plans at any time. Find the complete details of paid plans here.
15. If you are already on a paid plan or have upgraded to the paid plan, downgrading to the 'free offer' is not allowed, even during the offer period.
Requirements
16. The subscriber will need to integrate their Zoho Commerce store with Google Merchant Center within 60 days of signup. Failing which, Zoho Commerce may de-list your store. You will be reminded to complete the integration before such de-listing happens.
16. Your subscription to the 'free offer' will end when the offer period (one year from the date of subscription) ends unless you subscribe to one of Zoho Commerce's paid plans using a valid payment method. You can decide to subscribe to the paid plan even during the offer period. If you do so, your offer will expire immediately and the paid subscription plan will begin from the payment date. You can choose to pay either monthly or annually.
The objective of this campaign was to encourage new entrepreneurs to start their ventures without being held back by the costs of software. The program aimed at helping entrepreneurs derive the dual benefits of running their ecommerce store for free for one year and leveraging Google's considerable expertise to build a digital presence.