Edunology - Saumya Aggarwal

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Not long after Amazon and Flipkart both rolled out their next-day delivery services for India late in 2013, New Dehli-based online marketplace startup Snapdeal has come up with a similar same-day delivery option for its customers – only it won’t charge extra fees for it.

In order to use the new service, consumers need to place orders by 1 PM so they can be processed on the same day as the product ships. Like Amazon and Flipkart, Snapdeal is only offering its same-day delivery in select cities. Customers in Dehli-NCR (National Capital Region) can access it right now, and it will soon make its way to Bangalore and Mumbai.

While Snapdeal currently offers the service for free, it’s not unreasonable to expect the company might apply fees on it in the future.
With the increasing competition in e-commerce space, delivery has become an essential factor after price. While same or next-day delivery service looks great from the consumer’s perspective, in the long run, the true test for these online marketplaces will be whether they can sustain themselves in terms of profit margins.

Smart Indian Buyers -

With Indian buyers always looking for good deals, they have become extra smart to take on venture capilatist money. They go to brick & mortar stores to check physcial items, select them but order online as they get discounts easily. I went to Shoppers Stop recently to purchase a watch of Kenneth Cole worth INR 11795/- without any discount. When I ordered the same on Snapdeal it came at around INR 6300/- which is roughly 50% discount.

It would be interestingly to see how these ecommerce companies sustain and importantly how brands respond to such challenges in price war era between online and offline mode.