Snapdeal boosts logistics with huge warehouse expansion

In May, IOS did a round up of ecommerce marketplace Snapdeal's seller initiatives this year and there was quite a number of notable entries. As we approach the end of 2015, Snapdeal has continued to inspire. Whether it was onboarding more sellers, advising sellers, helping sellers raise finances, or boldly launching its festive sale one day before competitors. Now Snapdeal aims to double its warehouse space in the next two months, which will speed up delivery across the country.

• Snapdeal currently has 1.3 million square feet of warehouse space

• The warehouses are spread over 25 cities

It's like last year's Diwali never ended and of course, increasing warehouse space was essential to keep up the growth. Everything has to work like clockwork. Products have to be in stock. Delivery has to be done on time. It's all about cultivating a habit amongst customers to use Snapdeal", said Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief Product Officer, Snapdeal.

Focus on delivery

Snapdeal recently invested a reported Rs. 117 crore to take its stake in logistics company GoJavas to 42%, and become its largest shareholder. This has given Snapdeal a major boost as it focuses on building its back-end capabilities. Snapdeal has also improved data analtyics for its suppliers, so that they can plan accordingly. Snapdeal is taking steps to improve its back-end logistics as the company believes that after the Diwali sales, demand for online products will continue to rise.

"This will be the new normal. We are going to spend the next four months concentrating on capacity building. At the moment, e-commerce only makes up 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent of India's retail pie. This share is only set to exponentially grow in the upcoming years. What we are doing is setting up the engines and highways for this future," said Chandrasekaran.