Snapdeal goes for a makeover

In what could be the beginning of Snapdeal’s third big business model change, the Gurgaon-based online marketplace surprised everyone on Twitter by changing the logo of the company.

According to sources, this is part of an overall brand repositioning that the company has been working on for the last few months.  Snapdeal is running a teaser #UnboxNewSnapdeal on its Twitter handle. The new logo has been designed by a UK-based company which has, in the past, designed the logo for Airbnb, an online marketplace that enables people to list, find, rent vacation homes for a processing fee.

The whole brand repositioning is part of the shift in its marketing plan for which the company has allocated Rs 200 crore. The company is set to make a slew of announcements about the changes it is making to the brand and its business model in the coming few days. The ad campaigns would run for almost two months during and after Diwali.

Industry insiders said this would be the third and possibly the most crucial pivot planned by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, the founders of the company. At one of the company’s famous townhall meetings recently, Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl told his employees that the new mission was aimed to pivot the entire organisation around the number of users transacting daily on its ecosystem. Its most expensive acquisition Freecharge would be playing a very important role.

In a blog Bansal sometime back, said that they have been part of two successful pivots. While in 2007 Snapdeal started as a couponing company, it moved on to be a marketplace in 2012. The company now plans to move towards creating a whole new ecosystem in which it would have marketplace, host of services, including food ordering, travel booking, bill payments, hinged upon its mobile wallet. “We came up with the conclusion that there are only three things that matter for our business. And for the last many months, our entire team has been relentlessly focused on delivering on just three things, in that order. Build the most reliable and frictionless customer experience, focus on unit economics and make sure our costs stay low so we can continue to provide the best prices to consumers and grow. To us, growth means growth in our net revenue, not some vanity metrics like GMV,” he said.

It recently launched its own private cloud platform, Snapdeal Cirrus. A company that had, in the past few months, lost ground to US-based giant Amazon — steadily rising in almost all business metrics that e-commerce firms follow — is now trying to set itself apart from the other two big players.
A NEW LOOK AND FEEL

• Snapdeal changing its logo designed by a UK-based company
   
• Brand repositioning is part a marketing plan for which it has allocated Rs 200 cr
   
• Firms to run ad campaigns for two months during and after Diwali
   
• It is set to make announcements on its business model in the coming few days