1) Answer:

Snapdeal is one of the fastest growing ecommerce companies in India today with that largest
online marketplace. In just two years the company went from scrapping their coupon business to
India’s largest online business and becoming a billion-dollar company.

During their establishement on 2014, Snapdeal was started as an offline couponing business as a
daily deals platfrom and sold only 15,000 coupons in three months. So, the founders thought of
taking the business to next level. So, on September 2011 Snapdeal shifted from an offline
business to online business. And started acquiring other online businesses of different product
categories.

In June 2011, the online marketplace acquired Bangalore- based group buying website,
Grabbon.com. In April 2012, DelhiBased online sports goods retailer, esportsbuy.com, was
acquired. This was followed by the acquisition of Shopo.in, an online marketplace for Indian
handicraft products . In April 2014, fashion products discovery site, Doozton.com was acquired.
Gifting recommendation site, Wishpicker.com was acquired in December of the same year.

Henace, shifting from offline business to noline business, acquiring other online businesses of
different product categories were the major reasons for the success of Snapdeal in its early stage
of commencement.

2) Answer:

In my opinion, Snapdeal can be classified into the digital B2C (Business to customer)
marketplace through a matchmaking business model because:

a) Firstly, Snapdeal provides several product categories for its customers to choose from,
creating a proper match of their need and availability in the online platform. It is called a
matchmaking B2C model because it matches the product purpose of the customers.
b) Secondly, Snapdeal allows third-party sellers to sell their products on Snapdeal’s website
directly to Snapdeal’s customers. It connects online sellers directly to online buyers. It
also offers complimentary products such as delivery and logistical support to businesses
to help encourage the use of its matchmaking platform.
So due to these reason, in my opinion Snapdeal is classified into Digital B2C business operating
on Matchmaking B2C Model.

3) Answer:

Snapdeal, even though it was one of the largest business but it had to face the competition with
Flipkart and later with Amazon. As per the case, online marketplace Snapdeal was going through
troubled breaks, struggling to raise capital, confuting against internal conflicts and had to stop all
non-core actions, reduce costs and handover pink slips to employees to turn cost-effective. As
per my analysis:

a) Snapdeal faced a great competition from giants like Flipkart and Amazon which were
already the first best alternatives for the customers and Snapdeal couldn’t take their
business to that level of competition with the giants and had to slowly lose their business
and customers.
b) For competing with big players like Flipkart, Snapdeal should have taken the attacking
mode but the company was happy with being the 2nd or 3rd best e-commerce player as
Snapdeal thought even achieving this can help them earn a lot considering the population
of India. Flipkart, on the other hand, was clear with its approach to maintaining the
number 1 position.
c) Flipkart was very smart while acquiring other startups. It bought Myntra and Jabong to
integrate them into its business model. Snapdeal acquired unrelated companies like
Reducedata, RupeePower, Doozton etc that didn’t help the company much.

So, these may be the biggest reasons for the failure of Snapdeal in ecommerce business.

4) Answer:

Five key elements fir an effective business model and relating it to Snapdeal:

a) Value Proposition
It defines how a company's product or service fulfils the need of customers. Snapdeal,
being one of the largest online business in India provided products to the customers but
couldn’t create a strong value proposition as compared to Flipkart and Amazon as they
provide better products and reliable business.
b) Market Opportunity
It refers to a company's intended market space and the overall potential financial
opportunities available to the firm in that market space. Talking about the Snapdeal, the
opportunity was huge as there were not many giants except Flipkart in the beginning.
Customers were growing and the digital transformation was rapidly increasing. However,
Snapdeal didn’t utilized the opportunity properly and was happy just to remain 2nd or 3rd
alternative.
c) Competitive Environment
It refers to the other competition selling similar products and operating in the same
market space. The environment was very competitive for the Snapdeal as it had to
compete with Flipkart and Aamazon.
d) Competitive Advantage
It is achieved when a firm can produce a superior product and/or bring a product to
market, at a lower price than most, or all, of their competitors. Snapdeal didn’t have any
competitive advantage. Flipkart had to advantage of wining the trust and Amazon had the
advantage of greater product category.
e) Market Strategy
It is the plan that details how a company intends to enter a new market and attract
strategy.
The market strategy of Snapdeal was acquiring the other online businesses but it acquired
unrelated businesses and failed on their market strategy.

5) Answer:

Amazon is considered the preeminent online retailer in the world. It operates in varying areas
from robotics, movie databases, web services, audio books, food markets, etc. Its expansive
reach is a matter of e-commerce highly dependent on the logos and Amazon trademarks,
such as the Amazon smiling face, the Amazon logo, etc. The E-commerce industry falls into
the category of internet and software services. Amazon.com falls into the B2C category,
because Amazon’s main target is consumers.

The major participants of this industry are Alibaba.com, eBay, Flipkart etc.
The value chain of Amazon:

a) Amazon Inbound logistics

Generally, Amazon does not have long-term contracts or arrangements with its vendors to
guarantee the availability of merchandise, particular payment terms, or the extension of credit
limits. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is the cornerstone of Amazon inbound logistics for
company-owned retail business. Moreover, the economies of scale are an important source of
value creation for Amazon inbound logistics.

So, through logistics the merchandise is brought in the warehouse of Amazon.

b) Operation

Amazon operations are organized into three segments:

1. North America. This segment operates North America-focused websites such as

www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, and www.amazon.com.mx.

2. International. This segment operates internationally-focused websites such as

www.amazon.com.au, www.amazon.com.br, www.amazon.cn and others. Revenues from
international operations are subject to changes in currency exchange rates.

3. Amazon Web Services (AWS). This segment deals with global sales of computing,
storage, database, and other service offerings for start-ups, enterprises, government agencies,
and academic institutions.

A creative and innovative approach to problem-solving is one of the major sources of value
creation associated with Amazon operations. Specifically, the tech giant initially developed
cloud storage and cloud compute resources for its own business needs in an attempt to
sophisticate its business operations. Later the company commercialized cloud services once
its benefits became evident.

c) Outbound Logistics:

Generally, Amazon outbound logistics integrates the following:

1. Fulfilment centres. The e-commerce giant operates 109 fulfilment centres around the globe
and the company uses robotic technology in an extensive manner to manage receipt, stowing,
picking, and shipment of products.

2. Co-sourced and outsourced arrangements.

3. Digital delivery. These relate to products and services that can be downloaded from
Amazon website.

4. Physical stores

d) Marketing and Sales

Amazon spent more on marketing than Wal-Mart Stores, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, and
Kroger combined. Therefore, it can be argued that marketing and sales is one of the major
sources of value in Amazon chain of operations, but this value is generated thanks to
excessive marketing investments. Amazon marketing message conveys the promises of the
largest selection of products and services, attractive prices, fast delivery of products and
overall superior customer services. Several components of the marketing communication mix
such as print and media advertising, sales promotion, events and experiences, public relations
and direct marketing are used in an integrated way in order to communicate the marketing
message to the target customer segment.