Snapdeal's Shopo to Explore Monetisation Options in Next 2 Quarters

Mobile-based open marketplace Shopo will explore options to monetise the platform after next two quarters though it will continue to remain a zero-fee and zero-commission platform.

The platform, owned by e-commerce major Snapdeal, will look at advertising sales for generating revenues. "We have to evaluate it considering multiple factors, one of them is the number of shops on the platform, second will be overall traction we are getting and if we are ready to actually start monetising the business. We will evaluate it after two quarters," Shopo Senior Vice President Sandeep Komaravelly told PTI when asked about monetisation plans. He added right now the focus is to build number of shops.

Shopo, which was launched in July by Snapdeal, has a chat-based model to allow sellers to connect with buyers. It aims to bring small and medium businesses (SMBs) that cannot register on bigger e-commerce portals.

It is also looking at offering SMBs help with logistics and payment gateways.

The platform did not charge any registration fee and also no commission needs to be paid by sellers. The platform has also launched a peer to peer chat functionality and is piloting vernacular content in Hindi.

It has got 1 million listings in three months and hosts over 20,000 businesses.

Asked if Shopo will be able to bring one million shops online in one year, Komaravelly said, "We are aiming for that. The preposition for the platform is very strong, so we believe that we will be able to attract so many sellers organically."

Snapdeal will invest $100 million (roughly Rs. 665 crores) in Shopo over the next two years to expand the brand. Individuals selling anything from cakes to jewellery can click photo of their products and list on Shopo for sale. A seller and a buyer can choose a mutually convenient mode of transaction as well as delivery.

The application is currently available on Google's Android and Apple's iOS operating systems.