Department store chain Shoppers Stop has inked a deal to launch its own store on online marketplace Snapdeal, joining a growing list of brick-and mortar retailers who have tied up with online players to widen their reach. The retailer, which also sells merchandise through its website, is keen on tapping the potential of online marketplaces which are gaining favour among consumers.
"Our reach is limited to over 30 cities while Snapdeal reaches thousands of pin-codes with an extremely large consumer base," said Govind Shrikhande, managing director of Shoppers Stop, which recently said it will invest Rs 60 crore in omni-channel. "Snapdeal will help us understand technology and different set of consumers that will come handy in our omni-channel strategy."
Under the deal signed on Thursday, Shoppers Stop will dictate discounting strategy and price tags. The pricing, however, will be kept close to that in Shoppers Stop stores to prevent canabalising, Shrikhande said.
The partnership, which will cover around 17 stores in northern India by Diwali, will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores.
There could be initial hiccups such as duplication of brands that Shoppers Stop sells and are also listed on Snapdeal separately, perhaps with different price tags. "We will have discussions with brands on how pricing and merchandising overlap can be managed," Shrikhande said.
Snapdeal already hosts online stores for enterprises such as Tata-owned Croma. Similarly, Amazon has an exclusive partnership with Future Group as part of their omni-channel strategy to leverage multiple channels such as mobile, web or stores.
Kunal Bahl, co-founder and chief executive of Snapdeal, said, "We will offer our strong presence across 5,000-plus cities and towns to further expand Shoppers Stop's reach by adding newer geographies of the country. This partnership marks a strong beginning of the bright future for online and offline retail collaboration in India."
"Our reach is limited to over 30 cities while Snapdeal reaches thousands of pin-codes with an extremely large consumer base," said Govind Shrikhande, managing director of Shoppers Stop, which recently said it will invest Rs 60 crore in omni-channel. "Snapdeal will help us understand technology and different set of consumers that will come handy in our omni-channel strategy."
Under the deal signed on Thursday, Shoppers Stop will dictate discounting strategy and price tags. The pricing, however, will be kept close to that in Shoppers Stop stores to prevent canabalising, Shrikhande said.
The partnership, which will cover around 17 stores in northern India by Diwali, will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores.
There could be initial hiccups such as duplication of brands that Shoppers Stop sells and are also listed on Snapdeal separately, perhaps with different price tags. "We will have discussions with brands on how pricing and merchandising overlap can be managed," Shrikhande said.
Snapdeal already hosts online stores for enterprises such as Tata-owned Croma. Similarly, Amazon has an exclusive partnership with Future Group as part of their omni-channel strategy to leverage multiple channels such as mobile, web or stores.
Kunal Bahl, co-founder and chief executive of Snapdeal, said, "We will offer our strong presence across 5,000-plus cities and towns to further expand Shoppers Stop's reach by adding newer geographies of the country. This partnership marks a strong beginning of the bright future for online and offline retail collaboration in India."
No comments:
Post a Comment