Snapdeal has enough money for now, doesn’t need fresh funding, says Jayant Sood

The e-commerce giant Snapdeal, which raised $200 million in funds in early 2016, is not looking to raise more funding any time in the near future. "At present, we are comfortably funded. In fact, we haven't even utilized the last funding received," Jayant Sood, Chief Customer Experience Officer of Snapdeal, told ET.

As per Sood, there is no need for fresh funding even as Nikesh Arora has resigned from SoftBank, the Japanese investor that is the largest shareholder in Snapdeal.

"Nikesh has been a great supporter and mentor to our business and we look forward to the same in the future. SoftBank will continue to provide financial and strategic support to our company and the transition in the company will have no impact on our business," adds Sood.

The Indian e-commerce space has seen a lot of ups and downs in the recent past, ranging from protests from offline retailers against heavy online discounting to the government introducing new FDI policies for selling food products online. All these changes have definitely had their impact on Snapdeal, which has enjoyed a healthy run in the five years that it has existed in the market.

"E-commerce in India has gone through a clear cycle of growth with consumer perception of what constitutes 'value' evolving beyond mere discounts, Today the parameter by which success can be measured in this sector is the delivery experience and frictionless engagement a customer gets," Sood said. To make sure this happens, Snapdeal has been moving its focus to these areas.

Future Investment
To be in line with what the industry demands, Snapdeal has invested worth about $300 million in its supply chain management alone over the past two years.

"We have also invested heavily in infrastructure including building a two million sq ft warehousing space across 63 fulfilment centres in 25 cities," he says. In fact, a majority of orders are shipped through these centres. "This number has grown from just 7% in January 2015 to 80% today," adds Sood.

"We are giving people products and brands that brick-and-mortar retail has failed to provide in all these years. Going by that logic, it won't be incorrect to say that e-commerce closes the gap between aspiration and access," says Sood. This statement is proven when one observes shopping patterns over a period of time.

Cashless modes of payment are also adding a lot to the increasing fondness for online shopping. "This has been developing on the back of more seamless payment options as well as evolving consumption habits as people get more comfortable with online purchasing. In fact, e-payments have significantly increased since Freecharge wallet was integrated with our platform as it allows check-out processes to be completed in less than 10 seconds," said Sood.

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