Consumers want to find what they’re looking for quickly. They also want ideas or options should the product they select not exactly fit the bill. That’s why it is crucial to present options and alternate products in the best way for your target audience.
Related items may be generated based on colors, sizes, styles, and a shopper’s purchase history. While software and scripts that “learn” shopping activity save a great deal of time, many solutions tend to stuff pages with irrelevant content. It’s vital to analyze how related items perform, and whether or not they help decrease bounce rates and boost conversions. You may be surprised that displaying recommendations — just for the sake of showing something — may be killing potential sales.
One of the best examples I’ve found when presenting alternate product selections is Ties.com. This site uses multiple ways of presenting similar items in up to three different blocks on the product page.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
The Case for Registering Online Shoppers
With the addition of one unobtrusive form field, online retailers may provide shoppers with a better ecommerce experience and possibly earn loyal customers. Unfortunately, to enjoy this additional ecommerce success, you have to be brave enough to take an unpopular position in online marketing and register all of your customers.
Many vocal online marketing experts discourage user registration on ecommerce sites. They argue that asking shoppers to register deters would-be customers from making any purchase at all and, thus, leads to cart abandonment and lost sales.
Here is an example of how many marketers think about ecommerce registration.
Concerns about Ecommerce Registration
“If you want every new buyer at your store to create an account before purchasing, you’re massively undercutting your conversion rates,” wrote ecommerce consultant James Corr, in a September 10 blog post for Shopify.
Corr’s position is common among marketers, and understandable. In fact, Corr is encouraging ecommerce business owners and marketers to think about customers first, which — in and of itself — is good advice.
“To understand what a big deal this is,” Corr wrote, “look at the problem from a shopper’s point of view. They come to your website to buy stuff. When they see something they like and add that item to cart, they don’t want to be forced to make up a password and create an account.
“They want instant gratification, not in-advance commitment to your brand.”
But what if Corr and those who agree with him are mistaken? What if registration is not a burden to shoppers? What if it is beneficial to customers?
Registration Improves the Online Shopping Experience
At the very least, there are three significant benefits available to your registered users: (a) better customer service on every order; (b) improved on-site recommendations and merchandising; and (c) faster checkout on subsequent orders.
Better Customer Service
Imagine that you’ve just made a purchase on a site that did not bother to register you. Moments after you place your order, you get a nice email thanking you for the purchase. But then nothing.
After a couple of days you have not received the order or even a shipping notification. You want to contact the seller about your order, but how?
The thank you message is from a “no reply” email address, so you cannot reach the store that way.
You return to the store’s site to try and find a contact number, but the company is based in a city two time zones away, and it is already closed for the day. So you cannot call to find out what’s going on with your order until at least tomorrow. You have a bad experience.
If you had been registered, the thank you notice could have included a link to your account. You could have easily clicked through, logged in, and looked up your order. You get your question or concern answered in moments because the store cared enough to register you. You weren’t just a sale to them, you were a customer.
When your customers are registered, they have access to order history and shipment tracking information right on your site. Their information is both available and private.
Personalized Recommendations and Merchandising
Registered shoppers may enjoy better on-site experiences too.
To help put this in perspective, consider Dutch Bros. Coffee in Caldwell, Idaho. This purveyor of fine caffeinated beverages is a temple of customer service. When a returning customer pulls up, the Dutch Bros. staff typically knows that customer by name and remembers his favorite drink, which makes for a good, personalized customer experience.
What this Dutch Bros. Coffee shack is doing is analogous to ecommerce customer registration. Notice, for example, that Amazon recognizes customers by name when they return to the site.
While just being recognized is sort of nice, knowing who a customer is also allows Amazon to make recommendations based on that particular customer’s shopping behavior. These personalized recommendations mean that Amazon customers are not simply getting the vanilla experience but a unique one, designed to help them discover the products they might like best.
Amazon registers its users and greets them with personal recommendations. In ecommerce, registration is the best way to get to know your customers and better serve them.
Amazon registers its users and greets them with personal recommendations. In ecommerce, registration is the best way to get to know your customers and better serve them.
Notice the screen capture above. It is meant to show that Amazon recognized me by name when I returned to the site. But take a closer look. There is an item in my shopping cart. It was from three days before I took this screen capture. I had been trying to place an order, but I got distracted and forgot about it. Fortunately, Amazon did not forget, but, instead, remembered the order I’d started and provided me with a better shopping experience because I am a registered customer.
Fast Checkout
When customers register on your site, they are stepping into the fast lane for all future checkouts. To make this point, consider just one feature registration enables: customer address books.
When a returning shopper checks out on Amazon — which requires all users to register — that user does not necessarily need to enter an address or even payment card information. Simply confirm the purchase and you’re done.
A checkout process that required form fields for street address, city name, state or province, country, postal code, payment card number, and payment card expiration date is reduced to a checkbox and button. It simply takes registered users less time to check out.
But Won’t You Lose Sales?
Some critics might agree that there are benefits to registration, like better service, personalization, and faster checkout. But those critics argue that the potential downside — losing sales — outweighs any benefits for your customers.
But requiring registration does not have to hurt conversation rates or sales.
Anecdotally, I have been requiring registration on an ecommerce store that I manage for more than three years without any negative impact on sales or sales growth. Cart abandonment has gone down during that same period.
The difference may be in how registration is executed.
In his blog post, Corr cites a four-year-old Econsultancy article that, in turn, cited a six-year-old finding, which showed that a quarter of customers would leave your site rather than register. But six years ago, site registration was done differently.
It was common for sites to have a blocking screen of sorts that divided registration and guest checkout. Ecommerce platforms at the time typically had something like this built in to the checkout workflow.
Six years ago, customer registration was treated like a feature in some ecommerce platforms. Because it was an addition to the checkout flow, it required an extra account creation step.
Six years ago, customer registration was treated like a feature in some ecommerce platforms. Because it was an addition to the checkout flow, it required an extra account creation step.
Because registration was a feature in ecommerce platforms, it required an extra step, and when a site was requiring registration (effectively turned off guest checkout), there would be a screen that interrupted the checkout process and said something like “Create Account” or “Register.” It is little wonder that this discouraged some shoppers.
Because registration was a feature separate from checkout, when a business required it, it created an extra and upsetting step.
Because registration was a feature separate from checkout, when a business required it, it created an extra and upsetting step.
Now registering every shopper can be done with a simple password field and no other fanfare or obstacles.
The form shown below, as an example, includes a password field at the bottom of the checkout.
Registered users can log in and bypass the form altogether. First time customers step through a checkout process identical to what a “guest” experiences on sites that Corr and other registration critics approve of, with one change. The addition of the password field. That is it. No other extra steps are required.
Registration is as simple as the addition of a single form field.
Registration is as simple as the addition of a single form field.
Registration Improves Sales
Registration and its associated benefits may encourage some of your customers to make a second, third, or even fourth purchase from your site. Repeat customers can be very valuable to your business. They often spend more on each order, and they are worth more over time because of their many orders.
Some marketing experts believe that registration reduces conversion rates. But this does not have to be the case. Test registration on your own ecommerce site to determine what works for your business.
Many vocal online marketing experts discourage user registration on ecommerce sites. They argue that asking shoppers to register deters would-be customers from making any purchase at all and, thus, leads to cart abandonment and lost sales.
Here is an example of how many marketers think about ecommerce registration.
Concerns about Ecommerce Registration
“If you want every new buyer at your store to create an account before purchasing, you’re massively undercutting your conversion rates,” wrote ecommerce consultant James Corr, in a September 10 blog post for Shopify.
Corr’s position is common among marketers, and understandable. In fact, Corr is encouraging ecommerce business owners and marketers to think about customers first, which — in and of itself — is good advice.
“To understand what a big deal this is,” Corr wrote, “look at the problem from a shopper’s point of view. They come to your website to buy stuff. When they see something they like and add that item to cart, they don’t want to be forced to make up a password and create an account.
“They want instant gratification, not in-advance commitment to your brand.”
But what if Corr and those who agree with him are mistaken? What if registration is not a burden to shoppers? What if it is beneficial to customers?
Registration Improves the Online Shopping Experience
At the very least, there are three significant benefits available to your registered users: (a) better customer service on every order; (b) improved on-site recommendations and merchandising; and (c) faster checkout on subsequent orders.
Better Customer Service
Imagine that you’ve just made a purchase on a site that did not bother to register you. Moments after you place your order, you get a nice email thanking you for the purchase. But then nothing.
After a couple of days you have not received the order or even a shipping notification. You want to contact the seller about your order, but how?
The thank you message is from a “no reply” email address, so you cannot reach the store that way.
You return to the store’s site to try and find a contact number, but the company is based in a city two time zones away, and it is already closed for the day. So you cannot call to find out what’s going on with your order until at least tomorrow. You have a bad experience.
If you had been registered, the thank you notice could have included a link to your account. You could have easily clicked through, logged in, and looked up your order. You get your question or concern answered in moments because the store cared enough to register you. You weren’t just a sale to them, you were a customer.
When your customers are registered, they have access to order history and shipment tracking information right on your site. Their information is both available and private.
Personalized Recommendations and Merchandising
Registered shoppers may enjoy better on-site experiences too.
To help put this in perspective, consider Dutch Bros. Coffee in Caldwell, Idaho. This purveyor of fine caffeinated beverages is a temple of customer service. When a returning customer pulls up, the Dutch Bros. staff typically knows that customer by name and remembers his favorite drink, which makes for a good, personalized customer experience.
What this Dutch Bros. Coffee shack is doing is analogous to ecommerce customer registration. Notice, for example, that Amazon recognizes customers by name when they return to the site.
While just being recognized is sort of nice, knowing who a customer is also allows Amazon to make recommendations based on that particular customer’s shopping behavior. These personalized recommendations mean that Amazon customers are not simply getting the vanilla experience but a unique one, designed to help them discover the products they might like best.
Amazon registers its users and greets them with personal recommendations. In ecommerce, registration is the best way to get to know your customers and better serve them.
Amazon registers its users and greets them with personal recommendations. In ecommerce, registration is the best way to get to know your customers and better serve them.
Notice the screen capture above. It is meant to show that Amazon recognized me by name when I returned to the site. But take a closer look. There is an item in my shopping cart. It was from three days before I took this screen capture. I had been trying to place an order, but I got distracted and forgot about it. Fortunately, Amazon did not forget, but, instead, remembered the order I’d started and provided me with a better shopping experience because I am a registered customer.
Fast Checkout
When customers register on your site, they are stepping into the fast lane for all future checkouts. To make this point, consider just one feature registration enables: customer address books.
When a returning shopper checks out on Amazon — which requires all users to register — that user does not necessarily need to enter an address or even payment card information. Simply confirm the purchase and you’re done.
A checkout process that required form fields for street address, city name, state or province, country, postal code, payment card number, and payment card expiration date is reduced to a checkbox and button. It simply takes registered users less time to check out.
But Won’t You Lose Sales?
Some critics might agree that there are benefits to registration, like better service, personalization, and faster checkout. But those critics argue that the potential downside — losing sales — outweighs any benefits for your customers.
But requiring registration does not have to hurt conversation rates or sales.
Anecdotally, I have been requiring registration on an ecommerce store that I manage for more than three years without any negative impact on sales or sales growth. Cart abandonment has gone down during that same period.
The difference may be in how registration is executed.
In his blog post, Corr cites a four-year-old Econsultancy article that, in turn, cited a six-year-old finding, which showed that a quarter of customers would leave your site rather than register. But six years ago, site registration was done differently.
It was common for sites to have a blocking screen of sorts that divided registration and guest checkout. Ecommerce platforms at the time typically had something like this built in to the checkout workflow.
Six years ago, customer registration was treated like a feature in some ecommerce platforms. Because it was an addition to the checkout flow, it required an extra account creation step.
Six years ago, customer registration was treated like a feature in some ecommerce platforms. Because it was an addition to the checkout flow, it required an extra account creation step.
Because registration was a feature in ecommerce platforms, it required an extra step, and when a site was requiring registration (effectively turned off guest checkout), there would be a screen that interrupted the checkout process and said something like “Create Account” or “Register.” It is little wonder that this discouraged some shoppers.
Because registration was a feature separate from checkout, when a business required it, it created an extra and upsetting step.
Because registration was a feature separate from checkout, when a business required it, it created an extra and upsetting step.
Now registering every shopper can be done with a simple password field and no other fanfare or obstacles.
The form shown below, as an example, includes a password field at the bottom of the checkout.
Registered users can log in and bypass the form altogether. First time customers step through a checkout process identical to what a “guest” experiences on sites that Corr and other registration critics approve of, with one change. The addition of the password field. That is it. No other extra steps are required.
Registration is as simple as the addition of a single form field.
Registration is as simple as the addition of a single form field.
Registration Improves Sales
Registration and its associated benefits may encourage some of your customers to make a second, third, or even fourth purchase from your site. Repeat customers can be very valuable to your business. They often spend more on each order, and they are worth more over time because of their many orders.
Some marketing experts believe that registration reduces conversion rates. But this does not have to be the case. Test registration on your own ecommerce site to determine what works for your business.
4 Tips for Small-business Retail Marketing for 2016
Given limited information, time, and money, small retail business owners and marketers must decide which ad formats and promotions merit investment. Their growth depends on making good choices. But what should be the priorities? Which marketing tactics are most important?
Unfortunately, opinions and suggestions are not always helpful when it comes to prioritizing small business retail and ecommerce marketing. For example, in one article titled, “How to Prioritize Business Marketing,” a would-be marketing expert suggested the following.
- Increase outreach.
- Get professional help where it counts.
- Strengthen customer service.
- Increase distribution.
- Create strategic alliances.
This list, however, doesn’t seem like it would be all that helpful. What, for example, does “increase outreach” mean in the marketing context, and how would you compare the relative impact on increased outreach for pay-per-click advertising or email marketing?
This list is fairly typical of what you’d find if you searched Google for “how to prioritize small business marketing.” But again, it is not very helpful.
Concrete Suggestions
Instead of platitudes or buzz phrases, what follows are four tips or suggestions for, specific, marketing tactics you should prioritize in 2016.
Remember, all of these concrete suggestions should be viewed through the filter of your business. Also, remember that most companies plan marketing about a year ahead, so that you should be thinking about 2016’s marketing plan in September or October of 2015.
1. Prioritize Email Marketing
Email marketing is the one of the most powerful promotional tools available to retailers, online or off. When you have a healthy, well-managed email list, you can watch it drive sales.
There is almost nothing in marketing that is more satisfying than sending an email message, opening the administration page for your online store, and watching orders pop up as a direct result of that email message.
Earlier this year, OutboundEngine, an Austin, Texas-based marketing company, collected20 astounding email marketing facts for a post on its blog. While some of this data was a couple of years old, it still makes a strong case for email marketing. Here are a few of the highlights.
- For every $1 invested in email marketing, expect a return of $44.25.
- Some 91 percent of consumers check email daily.
- Email marketing is roughly 40 times better than Facebook or Twitter for acquiring customers.
Make email marketing a priority for your business. You want to:
- Grow the size of your email list;
- Segment your list so you can send personalized messages;
- Use automation to improve email marketing performance;
- Work to improve customer retention.
2. Prioritize Your Customer’s Experience
Marketing consultant and award-winning website designer Nigel Gordijk described havinga conversation with a prospective client. This potential client wanted Gordijk to help its site rank well on Google for a particular set of queries.
But this client had only “recently launched their business and had created a template-based website using resources from their web host,” Gordijk explained. “The site consisted of a total of seven paragraphs of content, spread across three text pages…The site looked amateurish. Even if potential customers were to find their way to the site, their first impression probably wouldn’t be positive.”
Gordijk’s point is a good one. And it helps us with our marketing priority list. Simply put, prioritize your customer’s experience. Invest some of your available money and time into improving how your retail site functions and looks.
Here are a few specifics.
- If your site loads slowly, invest in performance.
- If your site is not mobile optimized, make it responsive.
- If your checkout is confusing, clean it up.
- If your product images are small or blurry, get better pictures.
- If your product descriptions are bland and meaningless, write new ones.
Do what you can to make shopping on your site easy and enjoyable.
3. Prioritize Content and Content Marketing
Content marketing is the act of creating, publishing and distributing content with the aim of earning, engaging, and keeping customers.
Content marketing works best when it is aimed at helping a customer. In this sense, it must be useful. When it is, it will help you sell.
For example, in 2014, NewsCred, which is in the content business, reported that companies that had a planned and organized content marketing strategy tended to convert customers about twice as often as companies not using content.
To get started, read Jay Baer’s book, Youtility. Once you’re done, create an editorial plan for your 2016 content marketing. Consider these specific tactics.
- Use content to make product detail pages more helpful.
- Plan a series of useful videos that show your shoppers how to do a task.
- Develop a blog or online journal that serves your likely customers.
4. Prioritize Ads with Instant Results
Almost everything else on this list encourages you to invest time and money into solid long-term marketing efforts. But you also need some quick results. So when you buy ads, buy ads to generate instant returns. No brand ads for you.
For example, there is a retailer in the Northwest that is driving millions of dollars in sales with shared mail coupons. These ads cost relatively little to purchase, but significantly impact sales.
Similarly, a well executed pay-per-click ad campaign might drive instant results.
But how do you know which ads drive the best, short-term return on investment? You test them.
For your paid advertising, test some of these tactics for a short period of time. Measure how much profit each generated, and then reinvest in the best performing ads.
- Coupon offers in shared mailers like Valpak.
- Coupon offers in printed publications.
- Online coupon offers.
- Video ads on YouTube or Hulu.
- Radio advertising in select markets.
- Ads on Pandora.
- Pay-per-click ads on Google or Bing.
- Banner ads on leading, niche sites.
7 Overlooked Holiday Tactics for Amazon Sellers
1. Listings. While you still have time, in September and October, make sure that the data on your Amazon listings is in good shape. It’s not a bad idea to continue checking the data every week through the November and December period, just to make sure none of your listings has been artificially hurt by recently changed data that confuses customers or reduces the product’s search performance.
Within Seller Central, use two underutilized reports.
First, the “Listings Quality and Suppressed Listings Report” helps you figure out if there are any errors or data omissions on your product listings. While not all “errors” in this report are critical, you definitely want to look for products that have no product description or images. These sorts of issues should be addressed immediately, as they greatly help customers make better decisions about a product — and improve conversions to the seller.
To supplement this report, use the “Category Listing Report” to review all of the data that you have submitted on your listings, including tax collection codes on your products. To access this report, contact seller support and ask to turn on this “Category Listings Report” — it will be made available for only seven days at a time, and can be renewed.
2. Performance metrics cleanup. Your ability to win the Buy Box is driven in part by the level of negative feedback and return rate you experience. Well before the holiday shopping season, make the data-driven decision as to whether to continue carrying these specific ASINs, or whether to hold back from selling them during your busiest and most important time of the year. You don’t want any item to result in your account being suspended or your Buy Box eligibility being hurt.
Your ability to win the Buy Box is driven in part by the level of negative feedback and return rate you experience.
Identify SKUs that account for a disproportionate share of either the negative feedback or returns. Use the “Customer Concessions – Returns” report to figure out your high-returns products.
3. Managing inventory levels, FBA. Review inventory levels at least every two days during the holiday shopping season. If you’re in a position to buy extra inventory, do it. Keep in mind that there are items you’ll likely sell after the holiday season.
Try to buy enough inventory to keep you going through end of February. If you sell through it faster than expected in December, you’re much more likely to have enough inventory on hand to avoid too many stockouts before December 25.
While you don’t have to send all of that extra inventory into Fulfillment by Amazon right away, you’ll at least have the inventory available, should demand for your products in December be higher than expected.
If you aren’t using inventory management software to run your Amazon business, now is the time to set the “Set Replenishment Alerts” in the Inventory section, so as to be notified when falling below certain quantities in FBA. This is a rarely-used tool that scrolls through your entire FBA inventory. It can save you a lot of time.
…now is the time to set the “Set Replenishment Alerts” in the Inventory section…
Order most of your holiday inventory before mid-October, and ready for your own warehouses by the third week of November and for FBA facilities by the end of the second week of November. Keep in mind that FBA facilities can very busy by mid-November, and it may take 5 to 7 days for your products to be received and ready for sale. Be sure your items have been received and are salable before Thanksgiving.
And with the ever-creeping Black Friday sales starting earlier, be ready for increased demand at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday week. While some sellers lament the increased storage fees of using FBA services in the fourth quarter, the opportunity cost of running out of stock is usually hundreds of times greater than the extra cost of sending in inventory a few weeks earlier in November.
Even if you are fulfilling most of your orders yourself, it’s worth considering sending some inventory of each fast-moving SKU to FBA in order to take advantage of the extra 2 to 3 days of guaranteed pre-December 25 shopping that Amazon offers FBA sellers.
Depending on how days of the week fall on a particular year, Amazon communicates to customers that FBA products purchased up to 2 to 3 days before Dec 25 will arrive in time for Dec 25. If sellers fulfill products, Amazon doesn’t allow the same messaging. So sellers of self-fulfilled products typically lose out substantially to FBA offers during the few days just before December 25, a time when significant purchasing is still done.
…sellers of self-fulfilled products typically lose out substantially to FBA offers during the few days just before December 25…
In the final five days of shopping, consumers typically buy only items that will get to them by December 25. So make sure you have some strategy for using FBA during the holiday shopping season, even if it’s for only the few days before December 25.
4. Clear out old inventory. By mid-December, you’ve got an excellent window to clear through old inventory by cutting the price — just as consumer demand for most anything is at a peak for the year. If you’re sitting on stale inventory, this is the time to sell it.
5. Post-holiday stockouts. Too many sellers end up with out-of-stock inventory right before or after December 25, resulting in lost sales after Christmas, even though demand does not typically fall completely until early January. Order enough inventory to carry through at least mid-January, when most suppliers come up for air again after the holiday season. Have product available in January, even if it’s not delivered to you until mid or late December.
6. Pricing. Since many shoppers are buying gifts, consider pricing your unpopular inventory competitively to appeal to them. Reduce your prices on slow-moving inventory after December 12 to 15 to clear it out, so you aren’t left holding it after Christmas, when demand for both popular and unpopular items falls significantly.
Amazon has rules about price gauging, and those rules kick into high gear during the holiday shopping season. If you price products more than 10 to 15 percent above the stated list price, Amazon likely won’t let you capitalize on your Featured Merchant status for those items, even if you are selling the item through FBA. Charging more than list price during times of high demand is therefore a tradeoff between higher margins and lower visibility of your products.
Amazon has rules about price-gauging, and those rules kick into high-gear during the holiday shopping season.
7. Returns. A small miscalculation in demand could cause you to be stuck with a lot of inventory after Christmas,. Discuss well in advance with suppliers to find out what they will take back as returns after Christmas.
If you have a generous return policy with your suppliers, it’s worth stocking up a little more for the holiday shopping season. And if you don’t have a generous return policy — or any return policy — definitely look at liquidating items that are moving slower than expected, starting by December 12 to 15, so you aren’t left with so much product that it would take you many months to sell through it during the post-holiday shopping season.
Product Returns
How will you handle the increased number of customer returns in January? With so many more orders in November and December, expect many more returns in January — especially with Amazon’s 60-day return policy on FBA orders purchased in November and December.
Be ready with staffing to process returned items and send them back to suppliers. And because customers don’t always return products in new condition with original packaging and materials, develop a process for reselling returned items in used condition — on Amazon or other channels.
Overview
Enter Snapdeal's office in Okhla, and the world seems a wonderful place. There is nothing smashing about the building. It is the vibe: bold red splashed on the walls, rooms named after music bands, quirky posters, glass panels covered with scribbles and 25–year-olds milling around with easy smiles and weighty designations. Of course, at the back of your mind is the net worth of the company: over Rs 1,000 crore. That alone is glamourous. More so, because the company is just 18 months old. Exactly what do they do again?
They sell deals online. And if you don't get mailers from them about the best bargains of the day, you are not one out of eight Internet users who are Snapdeal's customers. You are the growth opportunity for the company whose meteoric rise is perhaps bested only by the big daddy of deal-a-day sites, US-based Groupon — a company, incidentally, in as deep trouble as the discounts it offers.
"These days, I often find myself defending Groupon. People forget that for every merchant that cried foul, thousand others built their business through its platform," says Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal. Groupon is under fire for promising the moon to its vendors who offer bargains with the hope of repeat customers. It is also busy explaining accounting blunders in its books.
"Out here, we keep things real. Both Kunal and I remember that just two years ago, we were selling physical coupons from our office in a basement the size of one of the bigger cabins of the current building. We are paranoid about protecting this now," says Rohit Bansal, co-founder, Snapdeal.
/photo.cms?msid=11234110 Starry Rise
'This' refers to a business that employs over 800 people across 50 cities. This business is no longer restricted to selling innovative deals. Since four months ago, it is also an online retail company selling shampoos and solitaires. "The response to product retail has been overwhelming. We are already market leaders in watches, sunglasses, perfumes and jewellery categories," claims Bahl.
Snapdeal's numbers belong to a business fairytale. This is why, even though the company is not profitable, its success is flaunted as the coming of age of e-commerce in India: a sector that, despite huge potential, has not taken off. Travel portals are the only exception.
"The next three to four years will be fundamentally different. The launch of 4G technology, growth in debit and credit card users and proliferation of devices like tablets will give a huge thrust to online retail. Already many portals have started offering cash-on-delivery services. This should tackle security concerns of internet users," says Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors.
Yet, the future needn't be click-happy. There are fundamental issues plaguing e-commerce and Snapdeal is no exception. For one, how will it differentiate services from competitors? Bargain hunters (read: most Indian customers) are likely to switch loyalties to other sites with every better deal they find. And there are plenty of them to choose from: flipkart.com, infibeam.com, crazeal.com, to name a few.
For instance, Indiatimes Shopping says it has made significant investments in technology, warehousing, sourcing and last mile delivery and is on track to hit Rs 500 crore gross market value next year. So what will be Snapdeal's unique selling point?
Of Assortment and Analytics
"Our biggest advantage is the product and service mix we offer. From spas and fine dining deals to mobiles and bags, such a range is not found on any other coupon site," says Bansal. The shopping list is expanding rapidly: Snapdeal adds new brands to its shelves everyday.
"Earlier, we were the destination for discretionary expenses. Now from essentials to luxury, customers can come to us for everything. We want to be their first stop before they make a purchase decision. Once customers come to us, we are confident that 80% will make a transaction," says Sandeep Komaravelly, head, marketing and alliances, Snapdeal.
/photo.cms?msid=11234115 The portal is relying on its 20–strong analytics team to achieve this goal. It wants to customise deals by assessing the consumption behaviour of each user. "We realise that services, not products, are the proxy for consumption patterns. Let's say two people buy BlackBerry phones on our site. We cannot predict what either of them wants next.
They could be anyone, from a student to a company executive. But the person who dines at a five-star restaurant shares his background with others who have bought the deal. So when we sell such a service, we have a fair idea what to offer next," says Bahl.
The company earns almost equal revenue from deals and product retail now, but it is the information from selling discounted services it cherishes most. "Most online retailers have little use for the information they collect from subscribers.
They sell deals online. And if you don't get mailers from them about the best bargains of the day, you are not one out of eight Internet users who are Snapdeal's customers. You are the growth opportunity for the company whose meteoric rise is perhaps bested only by the big daddy of deal-a-day sites, US-based Groupon — a company, incidentally, in as deep trouble as the discounts it offers.
"These days, I often find myself defending Groupon. People forget that for every merchant that cried foul, thousand others built their business through its platform," says Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal. Groupon is under fire for promising the moon to its vendors who offer bargains with the hope of repeat customers. It is also busy explaining accounting blunders in its books.
"Out here, we keep things real. Both Kunal and I remember that just two years ago, we were selling physical coupons from our office in a basement the size of one of the bigger cabins of the current building. We are paranoid about protecting this now," says Rohit Bansal, co-founder, Snapdeal.
/photo.cms?msid=11234110 Starry Rise
'This' refers to a business that employs over 800 people across 50 cities. This business is no longer restricted to selling innovative deals. Since four months ago, it is also an online retail company selling shampoos and solitaires. "The response to product retail has been overwhelming. We are already market leaders in watches, sunglasses, perfumes and jewellery categories," claims Bahl.
Snapdeal's numbers belong to a business fairytale. This is why, even though the company is not profitable, its success is flaunted as the coming of age of e-commerce in India: a sector that, despite huge potential, has not taken off. Travel portals are the only exception.
"The next three to four years will be fundamentally different. The launch of 4G technology, growth in debit and credit card users and proliferation of devices like tablets will give a huge thrust to online retail. Already many portals have started offering cash-on-delivery services. This should tackle security concerns of internet users," says Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors.
Yet, the future needn't be click-happy. There are fundamental issues plaguing e-commerce and Snapdeal is no exception. For one, how will it differentiate services from competitors? Bargain hunters (read: most Indian customers) are likely to switch loyalties to other sites with every better deal they find. And there are plenty of them to choose from: flipkart.com, infibeam.com, crazeal.com, to name a few.
For instance, Indiatimes Shopping says it has made significant investments in technology, warehousing, sourcing and last mile delivery and is on track to hit Rs 500 crore gross market value next year. So what will be Snapdeal's unique selling point?
Of Assortment and Analytics
"Our biggest advantage is the product and service mix we offer. From spas and fine dining deals to mobiles and bags, such a range is not found on any other coupon site," says Bansal. The shopping list is expanding rapidly: Snapdeal adds new brands to its shelves everyday.
"Earlier, we were the destination for discretionary expenses. Now from essentials to luxury, customers can come to us for everything. We want to be their first stop before they make a purchase decision. Once customers come to us, we are confident that 80% will make a transaction," says Sandeep Komaravelly, head, marketing and alliances, Snapdeal.
/photo.cms?msid=11234115 The portal is relying on its 20–strong analytics team to achieve this goal. It wants to customise deals by assessing the consumption behaviour of each user. "We realise that services, not products, are the proxy for consumption patterns. Let's say two people buy BlackBerry phones on our site. We cannot predict what either of them wants next.
They could be anyone, from a student to a company executive. But the person who dines at a five-star restaurant shares his background with others who have bought the deal. So when we sell such a service, we have a fair idea what to offer next," says Bahl.
The company earns almost equal revenue from deals and product retail now, but it is the information from selling discounted services it cherishes most. "Most online retailers have little use for the information they collect from subscribers.
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