E-commerce giant Snapdeal to enter FMCG market and target to deliver products within four hours in Gurgaon

India: Snapdeal, an e-commerce giant is betting big on FMCG products and has started delivering these products to Gurgaon as a pilot. The idea behind the step is to drive recurrent purchase from shoppers and four hours assured delivery is the highlight of the plan. Snapdeal will enter into all household goods and consumables, except vegetables and fruits, and assuring four hours’ delivery to other big cities as well.

The company has set the target till year 2020 and planning to achieve the same by targeting 20 million consumer transaction per day. Snapdeal wants to approach its consumers by making Snapdeal a single habit app for all their consumption needs. FMCG is a big segment as the company has to compete with local corner kiranas and shops. There is a huge demand of premium FMCG products especially in tier II and III markets that too in large packs, so company is trying to expand the access of goods but will not go for any distribution arbitrage.

Snapdeal is seeing a huge opportunity and sale of skin care items, shampoos and other international brands has increased. The month on month sale has also increased as customers are demanding more of premium items. Company has made these products available under its ‘Daily Needs Store’ and since Snapdeal has re-launched Maggi, the number of users has tripled.

According to TechSci Research, the online grocery market has a huge potential and is growing at a healthy CAGR of 62% because the need for on demand service is growing with the time and the company who will prove itself excellent on the factors such as supply chain management, ability to deliver a wide variety of products, managing the delivery timelines and with high fill rates will be able to satisfy and attract huge amount of customers in the long run.

According to a recent report published by TechSci Research, “India E-commerce Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020”, the country’s e-commerce market is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 36% during 2015-2020. E-services segment, which comprises online travel, online payments, online classifieds, etc., is expected to continue its domination through 2020. However, the e-tail segment that includes electronics, apparels & accessories, health and personal care, etc., is expected to witness significantly higher market growth compared to e-services segment over the next five years. During 2015-20, the western region is expected to remain the largest e-commerce market in the country. Major players operating in India’s e-tail market include Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.