E-tailer war: Snapdeal to boost logistics spend even as rival Flipkart ties up for easing license of foreign brands

Snapdeal is preparing to invest more in logistics, E-tailer rival Flipkart on Mondayannounced its tie-up with media venture Viacom 18 to ease licensing for foreign brands The post E-tailer war: Snapdeal to boost logistics spend even as rival Flipkart ties up for easing license of foreign brands appeared first on Firstpost.

Shopping online is becoming more popular in India due to the rising use of cheaper smartphones and e-commerce firms are struggling to cope with the growing demand and make faster deliveries in different parts of the country.

latest initiative eases licensing process for foreign brands entering India and to offer branded merchandise to consumers at a click of a button.

The e-commerce market in India is expected to grow to $220 billion in the value of goods sold by 2025, up from an expected $11 billion this year.

One area Snapdeal will focus on is to cut delivery times by investing in better data analytics and demand forecasting.

Quick and cheap delivery is important to be able to win over customers in a competitive industry in which companies are burning through substantial cash to grow.

Snapdeal, which had $4.5 billion in Gross Merchandise Volumes (GMV), a measure of value of goods and services sold, by August, bought mobile wallet company FreeCharge in April for around $400 million.

Snapdeal had received interest in part of its stake in FreeCharge to raise funds for the mobile wallet company, but declined to comment further.

For Flipkart, the tie-up with Viacom, a joint venture between the US-based media firm and Mumbai-based Network 18 media group, will facilitate licensing of international brands like Teenage, Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob Squarepants and Peanuts to sellers.

Flipkart also offers its sellers assistance programmes to help them manage their business better.

The eight-year-old e-platform enables about 80,000 sellers to market their products across 70 categories to over 50-million customers at competitive prices and discounts with goods delivered at door stop.