Snapdeal Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)

Marketing Strategy of Snapdeal analyzes the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). These business strategies, based on Snapdeal marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Let us start the Snapdeal Marketing Strategy & Mix to understand its product, pricing, advertising & distribution strategies:

Snapdeal Product Strategy:

The product strategy and mix in Snapdeal marketing strategy can be explained as follows:

Snapdeal sells over 30 million products in more than 900 plus categories for different segments of customers. Snapdeal platform, which is the product in its marketing mix, hosts wide variety of brands including domestic and international some of which are not accessible through physical stores. Snapdeal also makes offer by selling some of the products exclusively through its online portals by tie ups.

Majorly electronic goods and mobile handsets are the products included in the exclusive category. Some of the major purchased and preferred products through Snapdeal platform includes:

• Apparels including fashion brands for men, women and children.

• Lifestyle products encompassing beauty and fitness products in health and nutrition

• Electronic gadgets and mobile accessories

• Footwear for all age groups and gender

• Books and movies

• Home and kitchen related products

• Computers and laptop including their accessories

Snapdeal hosts a large number of merchants and sellers across the country to deliver the products and provides customers with option of selecting wide variety of products and vendors who can deliver these products.

Image: company website

Snapdeal Price/Pricing Strategy:

Below is the pricing strategy in Snapdeal marketing strategy:

Snapdeal has a pricing based on competitor strategy. The major point of selling across different ecommerce companies is the price set for each products.

Since the cost of switching across ecommerce companies are low the consumers tend to prefer those platforms which offer the least price. Therefore continuing with the trend of offerings incentives to consumers Snapdeal offers innovative deals for different categories of products based on their demands and has framed its pricing strategies based on it. Snapdeal has established ties with different manufacturers and sellers to provide the lowest possible price for the customers. Also with its acquisition of other online portals Snapdeal is expanding its scale of operation and provide the best quality of products at lowest price. The major scheme in this strategy of pricing in its marketing mix was to give the visitors of website various deals at particular time of day and during festive seasons. It is offered in the form of reducing prices in terms of discount and promotional coupons for product or offer additional services in terms of entertainment, dining, spas, beauty products or weekend getaways etc. Snapdeal introduces various discount offers through cashback schemes by using online mode of payments.

Snapdeal Place & Distribution Strategy:

Following is the distribution strategy in the Snapdeal marketing mix:

One of the major visibility of Snapdeal is through its online portal where visitors can view wide range of products in offerings. With over fifteen million subscribers provides the users with different categories of materials. To further increase the regional visibility across the country and to improve services Snapdeal has branch offices in major cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad etc. Snapdeal has a strong distribution network in terms of sellers, courier services and logistics who ensure the products reach the consumers on time. Majorly it is the sellers who arrange for the products to reach the end consumers. With the acquisition of ecommerce distribution logistics like GoJavas and Unicommerce Snapdeal is looking forward to strengthen its supply chain and logistics mechanism of sellers. Snapdeal has adopted marketplace model where they do not maintain inventory and rather help in promoting the sellers to advertise their products.

Technology has been leveraged for fullest extent to deliver customer satisfaction in terms of delivery quality products at the earliest.

Snapdeal Promotion & Advertising Strategy:

The promotional and advertising strategy in the Snapdeal marketing strategy is as follows:

Snapdeal has used both online and offline promotions to get customers to its portal to make higher awareness of its products. It has initiated various promotional campaigns like ‘Dil Ki Deal’, ‘Bachatet Raho’ and ‘Unbox Zindagi’ to name a few. Various deals offered by Snapdeal has been advertised in the newspapers, TV commercials and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitters. Generally ecommerce companies make offers at the same time of the year and hence there is aggressive promotions among all the brands to make consumers prefer it. Also Snapdeal itself acts as platform for promoting various products and their brands through its portal. Some of the companies exclusively sell their products through Snapdeal thereby giving both a better visibility in the market. To gain wider reach the company has its own mobile app ‘Snapdeal App’ since smartphones have penetrated to different regions of the country. Aamir Khan had been the brand ambassador of the brand, however the contract was terminated due to controversial statement by the actor. Similarly Snapdeal faced problems due to confusion arising in the name with Snapchat after its head made statements regarding India.

Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing mix of Snapdeal.

People:

One of the major criterion for any ecommerce company is to have a strong team providing services to consumers. This plays a major role in retention of customers since they are essentials to thrive in the competitive segment of online selling. Snapdeal has dedicated teams handling marketing, technology and customer service. It has also developed mechanism for return of products and handling queries and complaints for the same. Also the distribution system has been efficient and Snapdeal ensures successful delivery of products through its sellers.

Physical Evidence:

Snapdeal ensures that right products reach the consumer in efficient packages and minimal damages through its entire transition. Similarly attempts are made to reach the products at the customers at the earliest. Similarly to get wider attention Snapdeal has also started the process of creating a platform where consumers could even sell their product. They have policy in place to track their products online and updates are given through SMS and emails. The return policy has seven days window after delivery of products.

Process:

Snapdeal follows online marketing model wherein the sellers and merchants promote their products. Once the consumer places an order for a particular product the seller is notified and the seller arranges for the delivery of products at times it is fulfilled by Snapdeal through its logistics team. This eliminates the need for any warehouse that needs to be maintained for storing the inventory. The sellers and merchants are selected based on their delivery of their offerings and they agree to the terms and condition of Snapdeal. The sales happens through channels like website, mobile application and affiliate networks or through corporate sale. Hence this concludes the Snapdeal marketing mix.

About Snapdeal:

Snapdeal, based in New Delhi, was founded in the year 2010 by two budding entrepreneurs Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. It was initially started as internet platform for daily deals and later expanded into full-fledged ecommerce venture. Today Snapdeal is synonymous among different households among the company due to accessibility of internet and rising prominence of ecommerce in the Indian shopping scenario. Some of the investors for the startup venture of Snapdeal includes Jasper Infotech, Nexus Venture Partners, Softbank, Alibaba, Foxconn etc. Currently the brand competes with top ecommerce players like Amazon and Flipkart in the country and presently Snapdeal serves in more than 6000 town is countries with its 3 lakh plus sellers selling varied products.

Snapdeal offers various discount schemes to its consumers and deals through coupons and promotions to attract customers from the competitive ecommerce segment. With the aim of growing Snapdeal has acquired some other ecommerce and online portals including Freecharge.

This article has been researched & authored by the Content & Research Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

Browse marketing strategy and 4Ps analysis of more brands similar to Snapdeal. The Marketing Strategy & Mix section covers 4Ps and 7Ps of more than 800 brands in 2 categories.

Continue Reading: