SUCCESS STORY

SNAPDEAL AIMS

AT BUILDING THE MOST IMPACTFUL DIGITAL

COMMERCE ECOSYSTEM IN INDIA
They came, they saw
and they conquered the
e-commerce world! Yes, the
e-commerce marketplace
is a case study in itself. But
within that space are some
brands that have been
especially disruptive. Chief
among them is Snapdeal,
which was started in 2010
by high school friends Kunal
Bahl and Rohit Bansal. In
a short span of just over
five years, Snapdeal has
emerged as Indias most
trusted digital marketplace
that creates life-changing
experiences for buyers and
sellers, as the company
defines its identity.
By Shubhra Saini

he company
witnessed
phenomenal growth
in 2013-14, growing
600 per cent from
2013 to 2014,
making it the fastest growing
e-commerce company in India,
through its leadership in the
m-commerce revolution in India,
with 75 per cent of its orders
coming from mobile phones.
In a candid interview
with Images Retail, Amit
Maheshwari, VP, Fashion,
Snapdeal talks about the
evolution of e-commerce in
India, role that Snapdeal has
played in helping the e-commerce
industry to come of age,
disruptive force of m-commerce
and how fashion and lifestyle
has emerged out to be an
important category for them.

Where does the e-commerce

industry in India lie right now in
terms of its life-cycle and where do
we see it going?
E-commerce is still at a very nascent
stage of growth in India. With
mobile penetration increasing at a
rapid pace, mobile is driving and
will continue to drive the next wave
of e-commerce customers in India.
Our recent acquisition of FreeCharge
is on the same lines. With this
acquisition, we have become the
largest m-commerce company in the
country.
What do you think is the model to
go by having ones own stock or a
marketplace model like yours?
Globally, most successful
e-commerce models are
Marketplaces and India is no
different. And the reason is the
fragmented supply side. Less than

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8 per cent of retail in India is

organized. The only way you
can aggregate supply is by
allowing large number of sellers
to list on a particular platform like
Snapdeal which has a lot of demand.
We as a platform act as enablers for
lot of businesses in India . They are

doing what they are good

at in terms of design,
manufacturing etc. and we are
connecting them with aggregated
demand by strong technology,
customer support and logistics.
Is Snapdeal planning its offline
store in near future? What is your
perspective on hybrid retailing
omni-channel presence?
Snapdeal is Indias largest online
marketplace that connects thousands
of sellers with millions of buyers.
Our current focus is to build the
most impactful digital commerce
ecosystem in the country.
What are your various product
categories and which ones are the
most popular?
We currently house over 11 million
products from 100,000 sellers
across 500+ categories. Fashion,
lifestyle and home are some of the
popular categories.
What according to you are the
emerging categories in online
shopping?
With consumers awareness levels
and trust increasing, we have seen
consumers shopping for all kinds of

products on Snapdeal. Some of our

fastest growing categories are fashion,
lifestyle and home related categories.
In future we see a huge scope in
FMCG, automotive and real-estate
categories as well.
Which regions/markets have
proved to be most lucrative for your
business?
We have seen tremendous response
from tier 2 and beyond towns and
cities. We currently get 70 per centof
the orders from these regions.
How do you ensure that customer
service is top notch, especially when
you are not the one sending the
product out to the customer?
Customer is at the centre of our
ecosystem and we are constantly
striving to offer them a great shopping
experience on our platform. Our

With consumers
awareness levels and trust
increasing, we have seen
consumers shopping for all
kinds of products on Snapdeal.
Some of our fastest growing
categories are fashion, lifestyle
and home related categories.
- Amit Maheshwari,
VP, Fashion, Snapdeal
marketplace platform connects our
100,000 sellers listing products from
across 500+ categories with millions
of our users. Only registered businesses
sell through Snapdeal platform and we
take due care with regards to quality
control in ensuring that only the highest
quality of products are delivered to our

customers. Further, TrustPay our

buyer protection service, provides
our customers the assurance that
in case they are not happy with
the product(s) they receive, they
can easily return it for suitable
replacement or full refund.
Despite enormous funding, major
e-tailers have failed to reach
the break-even point. How does
Snapdeal fare in this aspect?
E-commerce in India is still at a very
nascent stage. Our current focus
is on growing and building a large
enterprise that creates life changing
experiences for all its stakeholders
including
and sellers.
g buyers
y

What is your
plan for the future
acquisitions, more investment?
Our aim is to build the most impactful
digital commerce ecosystem in the
country and we will continue to look at
organic and inorganic routes to fuel this.
How much of your revenue share
comes from m-commerce?
We currently get 75 per cent of the
overall orders via mobile based
transactions. 80 per cent of the
orders for fashion categories come
via this medium.

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APRIL 2015 . IMAGES RETAIL . 23