​What’s the future of online shopping? Snapdeal has the answer

Just in case, you were ignoring the fact that you can buy new perfumes online because you are too picky about the fragrance, a solution might be in its way.
Snapdeal, one of India's largest ecommerce companies, is planning to bring footfalls to brick-and-mortar stores, and the New Delhi-based company is tying up with legions of such retailers as part of its own omni-channel strategy, according to a news report in The Economic Times.

"Almost 99 per cent of shopping is still offline in India because customers still want to touch-and-feel, which can only happen at offline stores,” Kunal Behl, Snapdeal's founder told the ET. "So, that way you can go after the 99 per cent of the business. My lens is on how you can make these offline retailers more successful."

The company is expected to roll out plans for its omni-channel business in the next two months and is working on an India-specific software platform to help small local retailers go online. Behl said the platform will help consumers find any particular brand or product in physical stores within a radius. "We can tell you there is a great product that you might like and it will be available two kilometers away from you. So this is the future -this is called online to offline."

Consumers will have the option to buy online from Snapdeal and get delivered from the neighborhood store or buy it directly from the store through online guidance. Snapdeal will provide technology and logistics for retailers who want to go omni-channel with the company.

"You have already made the expenses (by creating physical stores) but how do you get the footfall? We can get online demand generation for them," Behl said in an interview with ET. "We will take them online and the only difference will be the fulfillment would be offline. You buy online and fulfill offline so you leverage the existing retailer's infrastructure which is in the interest of retailers."

(Image: Reuters)