Snapdeal scores strongly in South

E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal, which has traditionally been strong in the northern and western markets of the country has also scored strongly in the South with Bengaluru, Bommanahalli, Hyderabad, Karimnagar and Chittoor emerging as the top five fastest growing markets.

It came as no surprise that the top sellers in the Southern markets for Snapdeal in the run-up to Diwali were gold jewellery/coins and silk sarees followed by the usual popular sellers such as, mobile phones, laptops, TVs and air-conditioners.

“Till the last three months beginning August, no city from the South featured in our top cities list. Today, the top five fastest growing cities in terms of customers, orders and revenue generated on Snapdeal are all from the South. They are Bengaluru, Bommanahalli, Hyderabad, Karimnagar and Chittoor. Chennai and Madurai markets are also growing well,” Rahul Taneja, Vice-President, Category Management, Snapdeal told

Business Line . Bengaluru is Snapdeal’s fastest growing, large city today.

Media spend The spurt in sales in the South, especially in non-metros such as Chittoor and Karimnagar was the result of a conscious strategy to build awareness and consumer/seller bases in Southern markets. Snapdeal signed up popular South Indian film star Madhavan as brand ambassador for the advertising campaign and the ads were dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, generating over 100 million impressions on social media.

“We spent over 60 per cent more than we historically spend on the South advertising campaign across TV, print and digtal media. To the 2 lakh sellers on Snapdeal, we added 15,000 in the last six months from the South alone, which helped boost sales. This was accomplished in partnership with the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, who helped small and mid-sized sellers onto our marketplace,” Taneja said.

Storage facilities To cater to rising demand, Snapdeal plans to set up 15 new Fulfilment Centres (FCs) in the South over the next 12 months, where five FCs are already operating. Of the 1.3 million sq ft of FC space that Snapdeal has across the country, the South accounts for quarter million sq ft at present.

Snapdeal initiated festive sales for Diwali six weeks in advance with a bumper ‘Diwali Preview Monday Sale’ on September 28, followed by one-day category specific sales of electronics, home appliances and fashion accessories through October; the ‘Ultimate Monday Sale’ on November 2 with festive sales closing on Diwali day on November 11.

On the Electronics Monday (Oct 12) Sale, Snapdeal witnessed 17-fold increase in sales, 10-fold increase in volumes and 5-fold increase in users. Bengaluru, and Delhi, followed by Hyderabad and Chennai, registered the highest splurge in order volumes.

Currently, the northern and western markets contribute to 65 per cent of GMV for Snapdeal. Taneja expects the quality conscious southern markets to contribute over 30 per cent of GMV by March 2016. As of July, Snapdeal had achieved a GMV (gross merchandise value) of $4 billion.