Storyboard18 | Battle for Bharat: Snapdeal's new campaign taps into aspiration of small town India

Soumyadip Chatterjee, director, brand marketing, Snapdeal Ltd, tells Storyboard18 that up to 80 percent of transactions are coming from Tier II cities and despite the pandemic disruption the platform did well.

“People were buying with equal gusto, even if they were not stepping out physically, they were stepping out in the digital world. They were purchasing a lot of lifestyle related products. So on an overall basis we were impacted by the pandemic as much as the rest of the country was, but I think we are still in a very good space,” he adds.

Snapdeal claims to have more than 40 million monthly active users (MAUs), who generate more than 550 million page views every month. Sharing latest data, the company said that its delivered units have grown 86.3 percent over the last two quarters from 4.61 million in Q4 FY21 to 8.59 million in Q2 FY22. The net merchandise value (NMV) has grown 82.48 percent over the last two quarters from Rs 2051.23 million in Q4 FY21 to Rs 3740.68 million in Q2 FY 22.

The company also said that over 90 percent of its business is coming from categories including fashion, home and general merchandise and beauty and personal care.

Snapdeal’s growth is in line with the growth predictions of the Indian e-commerce market trends. London-based data and analytics company GlobalData indicate that e-commerce sales will rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just over 18 percent between 2021 and 2025, to reach $120.1 billion (or 8.8 trillion Indian rupees) driven by adoption of online sales from smaller cities and towns in India.

“There is a great degree of awareness amongst users from smaller cities with regard to the latest products - be it recent fashion trends, new products for home and the best in beauty and personal grooming. While shopping online they look for choices that are not available in their local markets,” says Chatterjee.

As per a recent RedSeer report commissioned by Snapdeal in August 2021, the number of value shoppers is expected to triple in size from approximately 78 million in 2021 to nearly 256 million by 2026.

Snapdeal draws more than 86 percent of its orders from outside the metro cities, with more than 72 percent of the orders flowing from buyers living in smaller cities and towns. Snapdeal’s proposition is good quality, value-priced products merchandise. In line with this, more than 95 percent of the products sold on Snapdeal are priced below Rs 1,000.

Social commerce is another area which has emerged as a strong pillar when it comes to tapping growth coming from smaller towns with companies such as Meesho recording strong growth.

Without divulging its plan to enter the social commerce space, Snapdeal said that it plans to expand into omni-channel distribution to expand its reach and complement its online offering. The company intends to create a distribution channel through offline stores, partnering with existing neighbourhood stores and new franchisees, across the country.

“The consumer base of Bharat (middle and low income group) has recently started coming online and we are just catering to the tip of the iceberg. Bharat is so big that it has a place for everyone. From a business point of view, we are always looking at what other companies are doing and it keeps us motivated to keep doing what we are doing well,” Chatterjee says.

Snapdeal’s new campaign is in continuation of its 2021 brand campaign Brand Waali Quality, Bazaar Waali Deal which highlighted the brand’s positioning as an e-commerce destination for value-savvy users, who make price-conscious buying decisions.

Meta-backed ecommerce company Meesho that has made huge strides in tier-2 markets and beyond, also launched campaigns focused on value consciousness and price.

Shot in the city of Lucknow, Snapdeal’s campaign has been conceptualized and developed in partnership with Bullet On Wheels, the campaign will reach out to consumers pan-India through TV and digital.

Sreedhar Prasad, internet business expert and former partner at KPMG, tells Storyboard18 the Snapdeal campaign is portraying a behavioural change that people are buying products for themselves which is quite powerful. According to him, people who are embracing e-commerce for the first time will order products they are familiar with. Therefore, the ad shows people buying table mats, bedsheets and shirts which they might be buying offline.

“On the whole, I’m assuming Snapdeal has studied the pulse of the market and I would presume that the lead categories should be products which that market already understands and using,” says Prasad. In his view, e-commerce platforms should offer better customer experience and price rather than investing in categories which these customers are not used to buying.

“They have to build trust by ensuring timely delivery and also understand if this market is driven by discounts or real value. Lastly, the real value in the Bharat can only be unlocked by getting the delivery right owing to the complexities of addresses in small towns by placing trained delivery boys in disparate towns,” he concludes.