Services: This is what Snapdeal plans to offer its consumers’ next

The biggies in the Indian eCommerce space—Snapdeal, Amazon or Flipkart—are intensifying their strategies to expand their businesses. What Delhi-headquartered e-tailer Snapdeal plans to do next is: add another weapon to its arsenal, which is services. Under services platform, Snapdeal may offer services from utility payments to personal loans. Snapdeal has signalled its ambitions to build a services platform to create a differentiation for itself in the country’s fastest growing eCommerce arena. This information was revealed in an Economic Times report.

Snapdeal vice-president Idi Srinivas Murthy said, "A lot of people look at eCommerce as a sub-set of the retail pie, we say ‘No’. India is one of the largest consumption economies in the world, and it will double in the next couple of years. That is the opportunity."

With this latest move, Snapdeal aims at grabbing a larger slice of the country's consumer market which is estimated to be worth $1.4 trillion as revealed in a government data. A recent Yes Bank and ASSOCHAM report has also calculated that consumer spending in India will quadruple to $4.2 trillion by 2017. At present, Snapdeal's sales are estimated to be about $3.5 billion.

Market experts believe that a larger share of services will help Snapdeal improve its margins. Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail consultancy Technopak, told the ET, "The incremental cost of delivery of services are lower, and can potentially give better profitability or returns on investment." (Image: The Economic Times)