Indian e-commerce market is attracting foreign investors from some years now and the famous Walmart Flipkart deal shows what the world is thinking about India. Not a long time ago another name was making noise in online selling market with its growth and that was Snapdeal. Sadly it is out of the competition now and this didn’t happen due to a single mistake. Here in this article, we have tried to discuss some points that show what went against Sanpdeal and how Flipkart played the smart game with perfection.
Snapdeal entered Indian e-commerce market when Flipkart had already gained the trust of online customers. Even at that time, Flipkart knew shopping habits of Indians and Cash on delivery (COD) option proved to be a game changer and was introduced by Flipkart. It was later used by Snapdeal also but the first company to take such bold step always have some extra benefits.
1. Vision of business
For competing with big players like Flipkart, Snapdeal should have taken the attacking mode but the company was happy with being the 2nd or 3rd best e-commerce player as Snapdeal thought even achieving this can help them earn a lot considering the population of India. Flipkart, on the other hand, was clear with its approach to maintaining the number 1 position.
2. Sellers
E-commerce is all about keeping both sellers and buyers happy. None of these two can be ignored. Snapdeal sellers complained that they were blocked without any reasons. Also, Sanpdeal rolled out the quick delivery option for free, unlike Amazon Prime. This increased pressure on sellers without any increase in the money they earned. Sellers chose to switch Flipkart.
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3. Acquisitions
Flipkart was very smart while acquiring other startups. It bought Myntra and Jabong to integrate them into its business model. Sanpdeal acquired unrelated companies like Reducedata, RupeePower, Doozton etc that didn’t help the company much.
4. Unique identity
In any business, to achieve success for a long period of time, it is important to be unique in some way. Sanpdeal just followed the trends and didn’t focus on becoming specialist of any specific category. Flipkart, on the other hand, wanted to cover the Electronics and Fashion industry first and expanded to other industries later.
5. Quality control
Snapdeal in the process of growing too fast didn’t keep its focus on quality control. Many cases went viral where customers received fake products and even bricks in their order boxes. This impacted the image of Snapdeal negatively as quality products is the first thing a customer seeks for while shopping online. Such things did happen in Flipkart and Amazon too but the probability is very low as compared to Snapdeal.
6. Zero job security
Another important lesson for startups to learn, do not hire people just for the sake of growth. No one likes to get fired and lose jobs suddenly. This happened in Sanpdeal post-Diwali 2015 when employees were fired every month. It ruined the careers of so many youngsters. Snapdeal employees went to Labour Department claiming that the company fired them forced 600 employees to resign. Flipkart has been very friendly and cooperative with its employees.
