Snapdeal ready to catch up with Amazon and Flipkart

All of 2015, the top contenders of ecommerce race were Amazon and Flipkart. Pick up any post-sales analysis, app-download stats or traffic reports, the above 2 players hogged the limelight along with occasional appearance by Paytm. But in 2016, Snapdeal plans to change the ranking and cross the finish line before Amazon and Flipkart.

How does it plan to do it?

Extremely positive about its diverse business model

Merger with FreeCharge, launch of Janus & Shopo, series of M&As in 2015, omni-channel approach and vernacular content has made Snapdeal a very confident player.

“We have zero inventories. Globally zero-inventory models like Alibaba’s and eBay make money. Also like Alibaba has Alipay, a payment wallet, and has built market places around that, similarly we now have FreeCharge and marketplaces like Snapdeal, Shopo and Janus built around it. In India, only we have this combination,” said Bahl confidently.

Motivating sellers to do more business

CEO of Snapdeal, Kunal Bahl recently reached out to sellers through a motivating letter and urged them to do a business of at least Rs. 1 crore if not more. For the same, the company has started several initiatives, which will assist sellers to achieve their goals. Empowering sellers and getting trusted ones onboard is high on their 2016 agenda list.

Growing along with employees

Snapdeal believes that the company will grow, if its employees grow too professionally. Hence, the marketplace introduced a new program ‘GROW’ to strengthen its workforce and be better equipped to fight competition.

Some challenges

The Aamir Khan controversy and top-level resignations are few of the areas that pose as a potential roadblock in Snapdeal’s path. While the company hasn’t revealed much about retaining or removing Aamir Khan as their brand ambassador, the controversy did hit Snapdeal’s business.

As for senior management, Snapdeal’s marketing head Srinivas Murthy recently quit to start his own venture. This comes just days after its Head of Strategy Ranjan Kant left and joined fashion etailer Jabong. Let’s see who will fill these top-level positions and help Snapdeal to stay on track.