Inc42 Daily Brief
Stay Ahead With Daily News & Analysis on India’s Tech & Startup Economy
Online marketplace Snapdeal has announced the launch of the SD Advisor Program for its 200,000 strong seller community. The initiative will enhance the level of engagement and hand holding for sellers on the marketplace.
The SD Advisor Program is an initiative for sellers to enable them to grow and scale their online business. Snapdeal aims to develop life-alternating experiences for a million sellers and the SD Advisor Program is an integral step towards achieving this goal.
Every seller, whether they’re just starting to sell on Snapdeal or are already established Snapdeal sellers, will be supported by a personal advisor called SD Advisor. Sellers who were a part of 6-month pilot program already experienced a 50% faster rate of growth in business volumes as compared to sellers who were not a part of this pilot.
This has been facilitated by a minimum of fifty man hours of specialized training which has been provided to all SD Advisors. The SD Advisors have specific skill-sets which will enable to provide the Snapdeal sellers with holistic support and personalized advice. This will aid the sellers to establish and grow their ecommerce business on Snapdeal.
Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal said, “Snapdeal’s vision is to enable 1 Million SMBs to do business online within the next three years. The guiding principle behind all seller-enabling initiatives is to identify challenges at every step of a seller’s journey and provide suitable solutions that nurture business growth. The SD Advisor has been designed as the nodal problem-solving function which integrates all Snapdeal initiatives and applies these to real business situations, thereby creating an encouraging environment for entrepreneurs in the country”.
Last month, the company had announced an investment of $200 Mn towards building an ecosystem for SMBs in India, and the SD Advisor program is yet another step towards that direction. The program facilitates the sellers to gain access the necessary infrastructure and help them scale their business.
A major responsibility of an SD Advisor is to understand the nuances of operating online. They will also need to utilize the marketplace to establish robust businesses. The program has been as a resilient holistic support system where the designated SD Advisor will provide end-to-end solutions. They will also provide entrepreneurs with customized advice at various stages of their business life-cycle.
The SD Advisors comprise of carefully selected employees who have undergone specialized training to help them hone their specific skill-sets and business acumen. This enables them to develop their portfolio of assigned businesses.
Snapdeal has also recently launched a TVC campaign focused on the SD Advisor program. It shows two real seller journeys, and how the support provided by Snapdeal Advisor helped them succeed. The campaign was conceptualized and created by Leo Burnett.
Here are the details of the Seller Advisor Program of Snapdeal:
SD Seller On-boarding Advisor: Help new sellers bring their business online
SD Training Advisor: Provide free customised and multi modal training to sellers
SD Star & Ace Seller Business Advisor: Support emerging sellers (Star sellers) and evolved sellers (Ace sellers) – share market insights, guide in range and assortment planning, provide promotion advice and prepare joint business plans
Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.