While undoubtedly customer is king, e-commerce majors are now increasingly realizing the need to strengthen and support the sellers on their platforms.
Where Amazon India is giving a digital platform to Indian sellers via Kirana Now and Amazon ChaiCart, Snapdeal has launched its SD Advisor Programme, under which its two lakh sellers will get a personal advisor to assist them in business management on the platform.
The programme, part of Snapdeal’s $200 million investment for building the digital ecosystem for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India, will provide free customised and multimodal training to sellers. “The programme has been launched to build personalised partnerships with our existing and potential sellers, understand their business and offer customised advice depending on the various stages of their business life-cycle,” Vishal Chadha, Senior Vice President (Market Development), Snapdeal told PTI.
A single point of contact to provide market insights and offer options from various initiatives that Snapdeal runs for sellers will help SMBs tackle awareness-led, technological, financial and other business challenges, he added. He, however, did not disclose the number of advisors the company would have on board for the programme.
“Sellers who were a part of the six-month pilot programme witnessed a 50% faster rate of growth in business volumes vis-a-vis sellers who were not a part of this pilot,” he said. Chadha added that the trained SD Advisors will provide evolved sellers (Ace sellers) with support and personalised advice to enable them to establish and grow their ecommerce business on Snapdeal.
The SD Advisor will also help strengthen the processes for seller on-boarding, training, guidance in range and assortment planning, provide promotion advice and prepare joint business plans. They would guide businesses by providing market-related advice and insights gathered through data analytics, equip with consumer–engagement ideas and financial assistance for scaling up operations on the platform.
SD Advisors will comprise of selected employees who have undergone specialised training to help them hone their skill-sets and business acumen enabling them to develop their portfolio of assigned businesses, Chadha said.
SoftBank, the largest shareholder in Snapdeal and the one driving the merger discussions with Flipkart, has said it respected the decision to pursue an independent strategy
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