Tuesday 27 October 2015

Snapdeal giving Flipkart a run for its money this Diwali

If last years Diwali sales seemed like a 100 metre sprint, than this years festive sales are surely a marathon. Of course it makes perfect sense! More sales equals more revenue! The strategy taken by ecommerce biggies to celebrate every festival in the calender right until December will boost Gross Merchandise Value, in their push towards profitability.

Memorable Monday

The similarity in tactics of Flipkart and Amazon to have their respective sales, namely the Big Billion Days sale and the Great Indian Festive sale on the same days did not go unnoticed. Snapdeal on the other hand decided to buck the trend and start one day earlier with its ‘Electronics Monday’ sale. Keeping with the Monday theme, Snapdeal has decided to have an online sale each Monday until Diwali.
“Million of users try e-commerce for the first time during the festive season and we are delighted to give them a fantastic first experience on our marketplace. Over the last year, we worked single-mindedly to deliver world class customer experience this Diwali,” said Rahul Taneja, Snapdeal’s vice-president (category development).

Aiming for the top spot

Snapdeal’s overall plan is to grow seven times sequentially over the festive period in order to overtake Flipkart by the end of the fiscal. So far the early signs are looking promising.
  • Overall sales grew 10 times during the festival sales week
  • Fashion category was up by 12 times during the sales week
  • Furniture category was up by 20 times during the sales week
“We have beaten every benchmark we had set for ourselves during the just concluded Diwali week, be it the number of consumers shopping, average purchase value or the delivery experience. We have also gained market share significantly,” said Rahul Taneja, Snapdeal’s vice president (category development).

Time to deliver

In its race to the finishing line, Snapdeal is looking to exploit its exceptional back-end logistics, which includes its recent investment in Gojavas. Also with the additional 1.3 million square feet floor space built this year, Snapdeal is now delivering 60% of its orders from its own 63 fulfilment centres, which are sprinkled over 25 cities.
  • Snapdeal has already dispatched over five million packages from last week’s sales orders
  • More than 98% of orders were dispatched within the first 24 hours

Podium finish

While Snapdeal is ambitiously working hard for the top spot this year, it is confidently on target for at least a podium finish. However the recent talk of established global ecommerce marketplaces like Alibaba and also renowned Indian business houses like Reliance, about to make a big splash in the ecommerce scene, could paint a vastly different picture this time next year.

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