Snapdeal eyes $2B GMV by 2017 via automobile buying platform Snapdeal Motors

Scale hunting e-commerce majors are exploring every possible verticals and niche to attain greater GMVs. While Paytm entered bus, hotel, and movie aggregation, Gurgaon-based Snapdeal has launched - Snapdeal Motors - a dedicated platform for automobiles (two & four wheelers).

The platform offers integrated buying experience enabling online booking along with loan approvals within two minutes. On Snapdeal Motor, one can seek information around a variety of automobile options/variants, test drives, online booking, including easy financing options and documentation support.

Currently, Hero MotoCorp and Piaggio are available on it and Mahindra, Suzuki Motorcycles, and Datsun will be live soon. Rupee Power and Unicommerce are powering loan and backend processes of Snapdeal Motors. Snapdeal picked up a majority stake in Rupee Power and acquired Unicommerce this year.

Earlier this year, the company rolled out mobile-based marketplace Shopo for small merchants and homepreneurs. Snapdeal had acquired Shopo in 2013.

For the uninitiated, Snapdeal was the first online marketplace to introduce the automobile category and claims to sell 300,000 bikes since its launch last December. Importantly, Alibaba-funded company aims to clock over $2 billion in sales from Snapdeal Motors over the next two years.

Commenting on the technology aspect of this platform, Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief Product Officer at Snapdeal, said,

With Snapdeal Motors, we are bringing together the benefits of e-commerce, including convenience and deep assortment. With industry specific content and features, including auto loans and exclusive auto partnerships we will move the needle on how e-commerce impacts our users' lives.

The platform has been designed to facilitate easy catalogue exploration and discoverability of products from the listed brands. Once customers have selected their preferred automobile model, they can choose dealers on the basis of proximity and estimated delivery date.

YoursStory’s take

Online booking and instant loan approval via Rupee Power will certainly attract automobile buyers on Snapdeal Motors. While buying popular bikes with preferred colors etc. and car (for instance, Enfield and Maruti's Swift), one requires to wait four to six weeks (especially in tier II & III cities). Snapdeal Motor could be option to beat such hassles.

With Snapdeal Motor, the company is leveraging Rupee Power for the fledgling automobile loan market. With the rise of loan-seeking platforms like Loanstreet and Bankabazaar among others, this move makes a lot of sense for Snapdeal.

The automobile sector is a very big ticket size purchase when compared to standard e-commerce categories. This essentially means that with a separate platform for automobile, Snapdeal will achieve a greater GMV, especially when all e-commerce majors are trying to outnumber each other in the game of GMV.

Recommended read: Tips to enhance your GMV

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