Shopclues eyes biggest sales growth this season

The company has a huge following in tier-II and tier-III cities

It could be a case of David versus Goliath for Shopclues but the e-commerce player’s co-founder Radhika Aggarwal begs to differ.

Shopclues, the online marketplace in the unstructured category that has a huge following in tier-II and tier-III cities, is organising a Lowest Price Online Challenge this Diwali, taking on larger rivals Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal which together have Rs 500 crore in just marketing spend.

While the larger players would look at deepening their customer base this season and expanding market base, Shopclues said it would rake in the highest profits during this festive sale. Nearly 40 per cent of India's retail sales take place during Dussehra and Diwali.

“We would be the most profitable, compared to the other companies that are having sales offers at present. I believe our growth would be the highest,” Aggarwal said. The company is expecting around five million orders a month till December.

Shopclues said though they had spent less than one-tenth on marketing costs compared to the top three players, they were able to reach their target audience in smaller towns through billboards and radio advertisements. “We are not competing with them at all as we are in a completely different segment. Our customers are different,” she added.

Shopclues registered 200 per cent growth during its Day-1 sale.

This festive season, the company increased its reach to more than 32,000 PIN codes, including 12,000-plus rural pin codes. It has tied up with more than 40 logistics partners that will increase its daily load capacity four times. “Almost 90 per cent of this load will be transported across India through road and train networks, and the rest by air. Also 99 per cent of these shipments will be delivered between two and 10 days, depending on the destination,” Shopclues said.

The company has also entered into special strategic tie-ups with regional partners and national players to handle volumes. “As compared to last year, we have received tremendous response from our discerning customers. There has been a growth of 200 per cent in terms of brand search queries, app installations and direct visits to the portal. We have experienced about 90 per cent growth in terms of visits and orders and about 190 per cent growth in gross merchandise volume  and conversion rate. Overall, we expect a better festive season this year,” Nitin Agarwal, assistant vice-president-marketing, Shopclues, said.

According to Google Trends, related query search for online shopping sale increased 250 per cent, whereas the search for Shopclues Offer after the launch of its Lowest Price Online Challenge increased by 80 per cent. Google Trends also showed tier-II cities gaining popularity during the online shopping fest and Shopclues emerging as one of the leading players among its target audience.