Time for tough calls: Snapdeal founders to staff

BENGALURU: To allay uncertainties surrounding Snapdeal and its future,

Kunal Bahl

and

Rohit Bansal

, co-founders of the online marketplace, sent out an e-mail to employees saying the current phase is an “inflection point” for the company. It also encouraged teams to take tough decisions in its pursuit of profitability.

The communication, reviewed by TOI, from Bahl and Bansal, comes at a time when Snapdeal is downsizing and shutting its non-core businesses, as reported earlier by TOI, to conserve cash and extend its runway as fresh funding has been hard to come by.

After announcing the closure of its consumer-to-consumer marketplace Shopo last week, the e-tailer has now disbanded its SD Instant team. Launched across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to deliver

FMCG

and daily essential goods, the service is now only operational in Gurgaon.

When contacted by TOI, a company spokesperson said in an emailed response, “At Snapdeal, we are always as assessing the progress of our initiatives and taking decisions on where we need to increase or to scale down investments.” The e-commerce firm is also learnt to be looking to raise funds independently for its logistics arm Vulcan, sources said.

All these developments are a result of Snapdeal’s sales plummeting by 50% over the past year in an e-commerce market that has remained largely muted. The e-tailer launched a massive campaign around Diwali last year, allocating Rs 200 crore to push its new logo and positioning in what was seen as a major effort to gain lost ground.

“Over a period of time, costs have a tendency to creep up on us and we need to keep an eye on any expense which doesn’t bring us value. It is important to analyse and curtail expenses which are contributing neither to our efficiency nor to the customers’ or sellers’ experience. In the history of every company, there are points of inflection and this is one of those,” the founders said in the email sent out last week.

Snapdeal’s cost-cutting drive has coincided with a string of senior level exits. The latest being

Amit Maheshwari

, fashion head of Snapdeal, who had been elevated as the CEO of Exclusively, the e-tailer’s premium and luxury fashion goods platform, which was shuttered last year.

Maheshwari has left the company after a four-year stint, sources aware of the development told TOI. He joins other old-timers who have recently quit including Tony Navin, Sandeep Komaravelly and Abhishek Kumar