Move is likely to help Snapdeal provide more use cases to its consumers and keep them glued on to its platform with a diverse set of services instead of discounts.
Bengaluru: Online marketplace Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd) has tied up with ride-hailing service Uber Inc. to enable cab booking on its app.
Now, Snapdeal consumers can directly book a ride on Uber through the e-tailer’s app, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Snapdeal has struck similar partnerships with restaurant discovery and food ordering service Zomato, ticket and hotel booking service Cleartrip, bus ticketing platform redBus, and home services provider UrbanClap.
Such a move is likely to help the e-tailer provide more use cases to its consumers and keep them glued on to its platform with a diverse set of services instead of discounts, which eventually lead to heavy cash burn, according to industry experts. Besides, such partnerships also open up additional revenue streams at a time when e-tailers, burdened by a slowdown in funding and hefty cash burns, are exploring multiple ways to increase revenue.
“We are committed to building the country’s most reliable and frictionless digital ecosystem, that caters to the entire range of India’s consumption needs. Our unique partnership with Uber, a global leader in smart mobility, is an important step in that direction. We are confident that this integration will further provide an exemplary experience to our customers,” said Tony Navin, senior vice-president, partnerships and strategic initiatives, Snapdeal, in a statement.
To be sure, Snapdeal’s rivals Flipkart, Amazon and Shopclues have not yet ventured into any such partnerships and have instead remained focused on the sale of products.
Snapdeal entered the services segment with the acquisition of utility bill payments and mobile wallet service provider Freecharge for a whopping $400 million in April last year, in the biggest-ever acquisition in the domestic consumer Internet history.
According to industry experts, with the market becoming extremely competitive, e-commerce companies are likely to explore cross-selling, that is, trading their products and services on each others’ platform through such partnerships.
Uber, which has posed serious competition to homegrown ride-hailing service Ola, had earlier inked strategic partnerships with Zomato and online doctor discovery platform Practo. Such a move also enables the app-based ride-hailing service to reach a wider audience base by leveraging the consumers of its partners, without spending significantly on marketing and customer acquisition.
“In August 2014, we opened our API to developers globally and since then we’ve seen the creative ideas that app developers have come up with in order to make it easier for people to move around in cities. This partnership with Snapdeal is the first completely native Uber API integration in India and we are excited about this, as we share the same sentiment of building an ecosystem where we work together with other technology companies in order to give customers a hassle-free, end-to-end experience,” said Mahesh Bhalla, head of business at Uber India, in a statement.
