Snapdeal reduces its losses to Rs 613 cr for fiscal 2008, confident of realizing profits

NEW DELHI: Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates the Snapdeal.com online market, significantly reduced its losses in fiscal year 2018, during which time the Gurgaon-based company was forced to straighten its position. activity.

On a consolidated basis, the Soft-Bank group, the Alibaba group and the online retailer backed by Foxconn reported a loss of Rs 613 crore in 2017-18, down 87% from the previous year. previous year, with a loss of Rs. 4,647.1 crore, according to the documents filed by the company with the Registrar of Companies.

However, the total revenue for the 2018 fiscal year, including revenue from operations, amounted to Rs. 514.5 crores, a decrease more than twice as much as that of Rs. FY 2017, when the company recorded revenue of Rs 1 105.7 crore, the company away from high-end brand products, and more to the seller's branded products .

"Last year, our primary goal was to maximize the operational efficiency of the market prior to the implementation of our planned growth initiatives. We are extremely pleased to see the incredible results of our disciplined execution, "said a spokesman for Snapdeal in a statement.

"Some parts of the turnover, which were disproportionately deficit, were identified and reduced during the year in order to realign the company on growth with healthy margins."

In an exclusive interview with ET in September, Kunal Bahl, CEO of Snapdeal, said that the company, valued at more than $ 6 billion at its peak, had significantly reduced costs while breaking away from certain categories. , such as premium smartphones. and high-end consumer electronics, to improve margins.

"We want to be the leading player in the long-term service market segment in terms of selling selections under the seller's brand, which was really what our roots were as a company and our target (back ) in 2012, "Bahl told ET.

"A lot of energy has been spent on eliminating all the inefficiencies in the system. The third thing was to focus very clearly on the type of merchandise we wanted to use on the platform, "said the company's CEO at the time.

Operating expenses for the year ended March 31, 2018 amounted to 661.9 billion rupees, a decrease of more than 73% over the previous year, as the company reduced its costs related to employee benefits, marketing and promotional expenses and technologies. spent.

In his interview with ET, Bahl stated that the company's use over a 12-month period had been reduced by 100%.

"In June 2018, we actually made money at the level of the company. Since we have a very strong balance sheet, we have about Rs. 1,000,000,000, this is a capital allocation problem, "said Bahl.

The previous year was also the year in which the founders of Snapdeal had to oppose a public takeover bid by their rival Flipkart, also the largest e-commerce company in the country, orchestrated by the largest shareholder of the online market, the Japanese company SoftBank.

However, when the proposed deal collapsed last July, Snapdeal unveiled its 2.0 strategy that saw it pivot back to a pure market model and sell its badets, a list including FreeCharge digital payment platform, logistics. arm Vulcan Express and the Unicommerce multichannel order management unit.