Snapdeal trims losses to Rs 186 cr; revenue up 73 pc to Rs 925 cr in FY'19

E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal Tuesday said it has significantly reduced its loss by about 70 per cent to Rs 186 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 611 crore in the previous fiscal. Also, its consolidated revenues grew nearly 73 per cent to Rs 925.3 crore in the last fiscal as compared to Rs 535.9 crore in 2017-18, Snapdeal said in a statement.

The revenue from marketplace operations saw a year-on-year jump of 87 per cent to Rs 813.8 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 436.1 crore in the previous year. "This year we continued our focus on driving growth with a lean and capital efficient foundation in the business. Our operating revenue increased 87 per cent year-on-year with a significant reduction in the cost base," it said.

The company touched a significant milestone by achieving cash break-even in June 2018 and also made its highest-ever net revenue in October last year, it added. Snapdeal, which had seen its business being impacted severely by the intense competition in the e-commerce segment, had started pursuing a fresh strategy - Snapdeal 2.0 in 2017.

Since then, it has seen a turnaround in its business. In 2015-16, Snapdeal registered a consolidated loss of Rs 4,638 crore, which dropped 87 per cent to Rs 611 crore 2017-18 and then further to Rs 186 crore in 2018-19. The statement pointed out that the company has sharpened its focus on value-conscious buyers in India in the last two years.

Snapdeal has added over 60,000 new seller partners in the last two years. The company now has more than five lakh registered sellers, who have more than 200 million listings on the marketplace. In a blogpost on LinkedIn, Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl said July 2019 marks two years of Snapdeal 2.0 – its focussed strategy to "pursue growth in terms of real revenue with good economics and enhanced customer experience".

"Two years ago, we were coming off a challenging patch for our company. However, disciplined and focused execution by our team over these past two years shines through in our audited financial results," he said. He added that Snapdeal's transacting customers grew 2.2X and traffic surged 2.3X to 70 million unique users per month.

"And all this in a year when e-commerce companies in India burnt through about USD 2.5 billion in the pursuit of growth," Bahl noted. He said the company will focus on steady growth, improving experience and investing in the company's culture this year.

"There is no winner takes all. Those building capital-efficient businesses will have the advantage of pacing growth in a sustainable manner and weather market cycles... We have built a strong foundation for a business that is still in the initial stages of long-term growth. There is an exciting journey ahead of us," he added.