Mobile-only Shopo has potential to become four times bigger than Snapdeal

Mobile has become top priority for all e-commerce companies and they aren’t leaving any stone unturned to capture the interest of consumers, on the go. While Myntra recently became an app-only platform, Delhi-based Snapdeal, which gets more than 70 per cent of its orders from mobile, still sees desktop as a potential channel for sales.

The company recently launched mobile-only marketplace Shopo, with zero commission model. Anand Chandrasekran, Chief Product Officer, Snapdeal, said,

Within a short span of time, Shopo amassed over 5,000 sellers, and users are showing great amount of interest

Shopo recently unveiled Shopo Angels, which helps users curate and figure out their best-suited styles. Anand added,

Snapdeal had acquired Shopo, which was touted to be the Indian Etsy, in the first half of 2013. “We believe Shopo has potential to become four times bigger than Snapdeal, given the burgeoning penetration of smartphones.

Snapdeal also revamped its app to make it more simple, contextual and modern to use. Anand pointed out,

We launched a visual search in our app, because we realised customisation is key, as far as choosing style is concerned.

During the app revamp, we asked the Snapdeal team not to work for three hours. During that time, we gave feedback on the new app. By the time feedback session wrapped up, we received 1,100 emails with feedback from our own team.

Currently, the company gets over 70 per cent of its orders from Tier II and III cities. Lack of options and penetration of organised retail contribute to reasons driving its business in smaller cities and villages.

When asked about plans to move to an app-only platform, Anand said, “

We are not thinking of becoming mobile-only yet.In fact, we have optimised our desktop version by 25 per cent,and we see more repeat purchases from our existing as well as new customers.

With increasing orders and traffic on mobile digital commerce, companies are becoming vulnerable to hackers and bullying. Anand added,

Security of customer’s financial and personal details is of paramount importance. Snapdeal has hired Gaurav Gupta who has over a decade experience in technology security space.