Another desi Taobao: Snapdeal rolls out Shopo, a zero commission marketplace

New Delhi - India’s e-commerce companies are snapping at each others’ heals to get more sellers on their platforms. After Paytm announced a zero commission marketplace for sellers some months back, it was the turn of Snapdeal to do so today. Snapdeal has launched ‘shopo’, a platform where sellers pay zero commission to place their products. This is in line with Snapdeal’s ambitious target of getting a million sellers on to its platforms in the next one year. So shopo allows anyone to open a shop online, chat with prospective customers and agree on a transaction - all without the seller having to shell out any fee. [caption id=“attachment_2345106” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Snapdeal’s Shopo is modelled on Taobao[/caption] But unlike Snapdeal, on shopo the buyer then has to conduct the actual transaction offline. Which means there may be no delivery, return or replacement guarantees, unlike those available on Snapdeal. Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl said as shopo progresses, improvements will be added to the current model but it will always remain zero commission for sellers. The sellers will stock their own inventory, do their own deliveries etc. This is the Alibaba promoted Tao Bao model where again sellers are allowed to sell online for no commission. Will Snapdeal’s shopo gamble pay off remains to be seen.