Snapdeal 2.0’s sharp focus on offering a selection of good-quality, yet affordably priced products has found the right connect not only with buyers but also with sellers.
The rapid growth in Snapdeal’s business volumes has caught the attention of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers who specialise in the value-priced segment and who now see Snapdeal as the best fit for their merchandise and clientele.
In the last 12 months, Snapdeal has added more than 50,000 new sellers, most of them focused on the value segment. A majority of these new sellers specialise in fashion, home accessories and small appliances - all large volume categories for Snapdeal.
Of the 50,000 new sellers who joined within the last one year, nearly 2100 new sellers crossed Rs. 10 lakh in monthly sale within the first four months of their joining.
In order to boost business for sellers, Snapdeal has executed a variety of initiatives in the last 12 months. These include providing analytical inputs regarding consumer preferences, demand projections at multiple price points and competitive landscape analysis to help sellers plan their sales strategy.
Over the past few months, the company is also working the reduce the cost of doing business on Snapdeal. Last quarter, it tweaked the return to origin policy to reduce the cost of returns by almost two-thirds.
According to a Snapdeal spokesperson, “The rapid growth in the business volumes of new sellers is on account of their intuitive understanding of how buyers assess value. They have a personal understanding of the needs, trends and aspirations of value-conscious buyers and are able to accurately build and price their merchandise to serve these the needs of this audience.”
In a sign of rising e-commerce activity in smaller towns, online sellers are also emerging from India’s mini-economic hubs like Dharwad, Ranchi, Varanasi, Moradabad, Raipur, Nasik, Kanpur etc.
Another reason for the continuing increase in seller base for Snapdeal is on account of its pure marketplace model, where Snapdeal neither holds any inventory nor has any proxy sellers working on its behalf. This enables all the sellers to have a genuine, level playing field.
