Snapdeal rolls out forecasting service Snaptrends for apparel merchants
Gurgaon based e-commerce major Snapdeal has launched Snaptrends, a fashion trends forecasting service for its sellers.This service will enable small and medium sized manufacturers and businesses in getting access to fashion intelligence to assist them to produce commercially viable apparel collection.
The service aims to act as a definitive guidebook for fashion and design product development exclusively for Snapdeal seller partners. Importantly, this is the first kind of forecasting service floated by any e-commerce major.
The service will cover both western and ethnic wear segments. Snaptrends first fashion trend forecast and collection is designed for the festive season 2015.
Commenting on this new service,Vishal Chadha, Senior Vice President, Snapdeal said, “Snaptrends will enable us to create value for our customers by bringing them the latest apparel and fashion accessories and to our sellers by empowering them with valuable consumer insights.With this trends forecasting service, we will enable Indian fashion manufacturers of all sizes to keep abreast of latest industry insights, giving them a chance to tap the fast growing market.”
Snapdeal and Flipkart both are trying to sell various value added and marketing services to merchants. To support sellers, the Soft Bank funded company had launched Capital Assist in August last year and had enabled more than 150 of its sellers to raise over Rs 50 crores through it.
The platform will offer ready reference that includes trend inspirations, key fabrics, colour direction and original prints. For each season, Snapdeal’s panel of trends analysts, fashion designers, textile designers and fashion experts will develop an array of well-researched and detailed design innovations.
The fashion forecast service will continue to feature newer trends for coming seasons, the next two being Autumn/Winter’15 and Spring/Summer’16.
YourStory’s take
Apparel contributes maximum business for e-commerce players after electronics and mobile phones. Such forecasting services will make immense sense for sellers as well as Snapdeal. A large chunk of merchants usually sit on dead inventory because of shoddy planning and forecasting. With Snapdeal forecasting such merchants will have clarity about demand of upcoming fabric, style and genres.
Besides consumers, e-commerce majors are unveiling various services to help merchant and make money. Flipkart is reportedly growing its advertising unit, a high-margin, fee-based business that it expects to improve its bottomline.
In September this year Snapdeal launched SD Advisor Programme, under which its two lakh sellers will get a personal advisor to assist them in business management on the platform. Snapdeal started forecasting services with apparel and going forward we may see similar services extended to merchants operating in different verticals. Most likely, sooner than the later other e-commerce will also roll out forecasting services for merchants.