Snapdeal launches 'Snapdeal Ads' to drive product discovery

Available across mobile, app, and web platforms, the ads deploy native advertisement formats.

The online marketplace Snapdeal has launched Snapdeal Ads, a platform to help sellers drive discovery of their products and increase revenue through targeted advertising tools. Developed in-house, the advertising platform will allow the seller community to reach customers through product advertisements, enabling faster discovery across web, mobile web and apps.

The ads panel will be rolled out to sellers in a phased manner, starting next week.

Speaking about the launch, Anand Chandrasekaran, chief product officer, Snapdeal, says, "Snapdeal Ads will strengthen discovery tools on the marketplace, and provide multiple touch points for customer-seller engagement. The advertising tools will help our over two lakh-strong seller community simplify its business journey and boost overall revenues as more users discover their products."

Snapdeal Ads features a self-service panel integrated into the seller platform where sellers can purchase ads and begin promotions without any prior campaign management experience. The platform provides campaign analytics, allowing sellers to build targeted campaigns, and measure impact and return on investment on real-time basis.

Speaking about the impact on sellers, Vishal Chadha, senior vice-president, market development, Snapdeal, states, "While engaging with sellers at various points of their business journey, we realised that the lack of marketing expertise or investments for elaborate promotions are some of the recurring concerns for their business. The Snapdeal Ads platform addresses these through a simplified advertisement panel that is integrated into the seller tools they already use. We designed it based on the feedback from our sellers, for their diverse business requirements."

Snapdeal Ads deploys native advertisement formats for product ads that can be showcased across various Snapdeal properties and channels, including website, mobile site and apps. For a majority of small and medium scale businesses, these online advertisements will be a cost-effective method to boost business through promotional campaigns. Large sellers and brands who wish to develop more elaborate campaigns can further customise their advertising plans using a comprehensive self-serve platform.

Snapdeal claims to have 2,00,000 sellers, delivering to over 5,000 cities and towns in India. It is backed by investors and individuals such as SoftBank, BlackRock, Temasek, Foxconn, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Ratan Tata.

The company was recently embroiled in a controversy when its brand ambassador actor Aamir Khan made a comment on India's social reality. Several angry netizens have sworn never to shop on Snapdeal.com.