Ever since Flipkart announced Image Search for products on its mobile app, we saw a multitude of smaller e-commerce ventures going after a similar feature, except one — Snapdeal. And the company has now given us reasons, as to why it took time to plan and release not just Image Search, but several new features.
India’s second largest e-commerce brand has now announced, that it is going to invest $100 million into a new, Multimedia Research Lab in Bengaluru, to make your shopping experience faster, easier and more engaging.
Snapdeal’s latest acquisition findmystyle.in, founded by Fashiate – a startup – will aid in its endeavor to help customers find products they want, among 1000 other distractions. Snapdeal believes that this new radical approach will increase revenue and user engagement and of course the brand loyalty that comes with it later on.
To be precise, findmystyle uses what’s called image recognition technology and machine learning algorithms, to make search results faster, accurate and tuned to the specific consumers.
Founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in 2010, Snapdeal is looking to tap into the growing smartphone market. Online shopping through smartphones has increased considerably over the years and has also changed the format of data input. Invariably, forcing the researchers to develop new algorithms to suit newer, modern preferences.
Snapdeal’s arch nemesis Flipkart already implemented the image search feature in its mobile app for the fashion category, with plans for more similar, Machine learning powered features in future..
This flurry of on going rivalries in the Indian e-commerce market – which is the second largest in Asia – has meant the imminent acquisition of start-ups by the major players.
Recently, start-ups Dootzon and Wishpicker ended up as part of Snapdeals newest members. The company run by Jasper Infotech Pvt.Ltd wishes to fine tune its search engine and discovery tools, to meet the needs of local consumers, and will later see that tech being embedded into Snapdeal’s own webs and mobile platforms.
The investment announcement becomes even more important for Snapdeal, considering that the company has discarded an app-only approach and will continue to operate, both its web and mobile platforms. Thus, a $100 Mn investment into research becomes understandable, considering that the company has to look after both web and mobile.
This approach is in stark contras to most other e-tailers, most notably Flipkart and Myntra, who have already announced plans of going app-only.
