Snapdeal turnaround story: Revenue shoots up 73% while losses drop by 71% in FY19

Today Snapdeal announced its audited financial results for FY 2018-19. This highlights a phenomenal turnaround that the company has orchestrated in the last couple of years. 

The company’s consolidated revenue grew to Rs 925.3 crore (approx $132 million) in 2018-19 as compared to Rs 535.9 crore ($76.5 million) in 2017-18, which is a significant increase of nearly 73% in the last year, reveals RoC filings with MCA.

At the same time, Snapdeal also managed to dramatically reduce its loss to Rs 186 crore ($26.5 million) in FY19 from Rs 611 crore ($87.3 million) reported in FY18 - almost 71% drop. The company’s consolidated losses had tumbled from Rs 4,638 crore ($662.5 million) by 87% to Rs 611 crore ($87.28 million) in FY18.

The company’s revenue from operations saw a healthy year-on-year jump of 87% - from Rs 436.1 crore (FY18) to INR 813.8 crore (FY19).

In its filings, the company shared, “This year we retained our focus on driving growth with a lean and capital-efficient foundation in the business. Our operating revenue increased on an 87% YoY basis with a significant reduction in base costs. The Company achieved an important milestone by turning cash flow positive in the month of June 2018 and also made the highest ever Net Revenue in its history in the month of October 2018.”

In a blog posted on his LinkedIn account, Kunal Bahl, Snapdeal’s CEO & Co-founder, mentioned that “Over the last two years we have reduced our loss by an incredible 96%, while growing on parameters which matter to every business – more customers and more revenue. Our transacting customers grew 2.2X and traffic surged 2.3X to 70 million unique users/month. And all this in a year when the e-commerce companies in India burnt through $2.5 billion in the pursuit of growth.” 

As per a release by the company, in the last two years, Snapdeal has sharpened its focus on the needs of the value-conscious buyers in India. More than 80% of its users come from the small towns and cities of India. The company believes the market of nearly 400 million potential buyers is the fastest-growing segment in Indian e-commerce. 

In the last two years, Snapdeal claims it has added 60,000 plus new seller partners, who have added over 50 million new listings. Snapdeal now has more than 500,000 registered sellers, who have more than 200 million listings on the marketplace.

With these results, Snapdeal has emphatically cemented its position amongst the top three marketplaces in India, along with Amazon & Flipkart. It has also become the most cost-efficient of all marketplaces in the country and this gives it the strategic advantage to pursue growth in the value segment with sound business economics. 

The withering away of ShopClues and Paytm Mall also makes Snapdeal the only player to build a sizeable scale in the value segment. With its success in building a frugal, focused, and differentiated business, it clearly has a winning strategy at hand. This turnaround is quite an inspiring story for many entrepreneurs in the Indian startup ecosystem.