Value e-commerce, most promising growth segment of online market: Kunal Bahl, CEO of Snapdeal

At present, we are focussed on executing our plan with respect to customer experience, growth and profitability. Given the company’s clear focus and leadership in the value e-commerce segment, investors keep reaching out to us to invest in the company and, at the right time, we will explore the same.

For a long time, India’s e-commerce has been about brands on one hand and relatively low quality, low-priced items on the other. Value e-commerce is about offering users good quality merchandise at affordable prices, without requiring a trade-off between price and quality. Value e-commerce serves consumers who are primarily looking for affordable, lifestyle merchandise, and are not necessarily looking to buy brands at a discount. In India, a value-focussed platform has been a missing piece from India’s e-commerce market. While a few platforms offer a limited selection of value items, at Snapdeal, we understand that a dedicated value shopping platform is key to reaching out to more than 90 per cent of online shoppers. Our efforts in the last four years have been focussed on building value e-commerce.

Focus is the key success factor in an ultra-competitive e-commerce market. We have seen successful online businesses being built in categories such as cosmetics, eyewear, kids products.

The value retail segment is the largest chunk of Indian retail, and we are confident that the growth opportunity for a focussed value e-commerce leader such as Snapdeal is significant.

Well-established retail models such as DMart and Vishal Mega Mart are successfully serving this audience in physical markets. We are the first at-scale platform to build an online equivalent of these, with an exclusive focus on value-priced, good quality merchandise like daily wear clothes, everyday use kitchen items and home decor items.

Striking a balance with good quality and affordable prices is not an easy task – it requires each part of the business to be optimised towards delivering value to the customers, given the low-basket sizes, while ensuring a consistent, good user experience.

For instance, in an industry-first, we offer free shipping on all orders, with no minimum order value requirement, ensuring that a great deal is not diminished by shipping charges. Working closely with our sellers, we have built an assortment that is broad enough to cater to the entire gamut of value needs.

For customerswho are primarily looking for affordable value merchandise in discretionary categories such as clothes, shoes, home decor, and kitchen needs, among others, we are able to satisfy all their requirements without them having to shop at local bazaars.

On Snapdeal, 100 per cent of the products are priced for value and affordability. Technology has allowed us to provide personalised feed to each customer; a friction-free customer experience to support ease of ordering, delivery, and also returns and refunds, which is very important for our customers who are mostly from small towns and are new to e-commerce.

Seeking value is an integral part of an Indian customer’s purchase consideration – both online or offline. Our latest campaign nudges consumers to look beyond sales talk to find the best value for their money and trust their wisdom to judge what’s value versus hype.

While conducting research for the campaign, we interviewed hundreds of consumers who bought brands frequently and implicitly equated good quality with high prices. In blind trials, they were consistently surprised by how good the quality of the products is even when they were affordable products not from well-known brands. The campaign uses humour to disrupt the notion that only expensive brands offer good quality.

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