After Lenskart and Big Bazaar, Snapdeal plans online-offline presence

Recently, we read about Myntra’s famous marketing strategy. Despite all the data that was used by Myntra to back the decision, there was 10 percent dip in sales at Myntra as it went app only. It hardly ever made sense to deprive desktop users the shopping experience. Nonetheless, Myntra seems to stick to the strategy. According to Myntra, it just doesn’t make sense maintaining a website. On the other hand, Lenskart is ramping up plans of launching 100 brick-and-mortar retail stores across India. Lenskart had made this announcement early in 2014. As quoted in news agencies, Peyush Bansal, CEO, Lenskart said, “These stores display a large range of eyewear. Customers can choose from them or those available on the website and place orders online from the store, helping us expand our brand not just online but offline as well.” The latest news we hear is that Snapdeal is also looking very closely at this model. **Similar to Flipkarts’ plan** , Snapdeal intends to roll out offline stores beginning the next two months. In a report in the Times of India, Kunal Behl, founder, Snapdeal said, “Almost 99% of shopping is still offline in India because customers still want to touch-and-feel, which can only happen at offline stores. So, that way you can go after the 99% of the business. My lens is on how you can make these offline retailers more successful." In a report in the Business Standard, Kishore Biyani, CEO of Future Group said Big Bazaar would launch the electronics category online, which would be followed by sports. “By the year-end, the entire Big Bazaar store will be online across India. Once we venture into e-commerce, we will reach across India, in all cities possible” he added. The growth of retail business in recent years, and the subsequent rise of ecommerce has caused brands to take a closer look at the strategy they employ in the market. For now, having a presence across the online and offline space seems to be the way to go. With inputs from agencies