New DelhiExpanding its presence in the high-end fashion segment, online marketplace Snapdeal has acquired luxury fashion portal Exclusively.com for anundisclosed amount.
With this acquisition, the city-based firm that gets a little over $1 billion in gross merchandise value(GMV)from its fashion business expects this figure to touch $2 billion by the end of the current calendar year.
According to industry insiders, Snapdeal's total GMV - total value of goods sold - is around $ 2 billion at present and fashion business accounts for over 60 per cent of the total volume.
Quoting a KPMG-ASSOCHAM report, the homegrown e-commerce firm said luxury products and services is a $14 billion market in India, growing at 30 per cent year-on-year, with more than 70 per cent consumers willing to shop for luxury products in India than abroad.
"With this acquisition, Snapdeal looks to further strengthen its fashion business and reach $ 2 billion in GMV in the fashion category this year," the e-commerce firm said in a statement.
The acquisition of Exclusively is similar to that of domestic e-commerce firm and Snapdeal's rival, Flipkart acquiring online fashion retailer Myntra for an estimated Rs2,000 crore deal in May last year, marking it the biggest consolidation in the e-commerce space in India.
Commenting on the announcement, Snapdeal Co-Founder and CEO Kunal Bahl said: "Snapdeal has always operated ahead of the curve in the e-commerce space, especially when it comes to category leadership."
He added that there is a surge in demand from consumers across the country for premium and luxury products, however, access to luxury brands is severely limited in the country.
The company has brought Exclusively to provide its over 40 million users access to widest range of aspirational,high-end products and services.
"Under this partnership, Exclusively will complement Snapdeal's existing ecosystem and will provide a consolidated offering for the luxury and lifestyle shopper, making it India's first online luxury mall. Luxury and premium fashion brands from across the world can now open stores in Exclusively's online luxury mall," Bahl said.
Exclusively will continue to function as an independent site and all aspects of Exclusively's online shopping experience will remain intact, with new collection and service augmentations in the pipeline, Snapdeal said.
The firm expects the luxury products portal to reach a GMV of $100 million by 2015-end and $1 billion in the next three years.
Exclusively today retails hundreds of India's leading designers on its site, including Manish Malhotra, Tarun Tahiliani, Manish Arora, Anita Dongre, Rohit Bal, JJ Valaya, Ritu Kumar, Varun Bahl and Neeta Lulla.
This year, Exclusively plans to launch leading international luxury brands and designers on the site. A Snapdeal spokesperson said post this acquisition,Exclusively Co-Founders Mohini Boparai Guleria and Sunjay Guleria will join the Snapdeal family as General Manager - Creative & Catalogue and General Manager - Business at Exclusively.com, respectively.
Snapdeal had forayed into the designer wear category in October 2014 with the launch of 'The Designer Studio' and this acquisition will further strengthen its presence in the luxury and premium products space, she added.
The move comes in the backdrop of e-commerce firms like Flipkart, which are flush with cash from investors, expanding their presence with acquisition of firms in niche categories.
Snapdeal has so far raised over $1.5 billion from a clutch of investors that include Japan's Softbank and Ratan Tata, among others.
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