Snapdeal acquires premium fashion portal Exclusively to capture rapidly growing luxury market

India’s largest online marketplace, Snapdeal.com has acquired the premium and luxury fashion portal Exclusively.com. With this acquisition, Snapdeal looks to further strengthen its fashion business and reaching $2 billion in GMV in the fashion category this year.

Commenting on this announcement, Kunal Bahl, co-Founder & CEO, Snapdeal.com said, “Snapdeal has always operated ahead of the curve in the e-commerce space, especially when it comes to category leadership. We have witnessed a surge in the demand from consumers across the country for premium and luxury products, however, given that access to luxury brands is severely limited in our country, we have brought Exclusively into our family to provide our 40 million+ users the access to widest range of aspirational, high end products and services.”

Luxury products and services is a $14 billion market in India, growing at 30 per cent YoY, according to a recent KPMG-ASSOCHAM report. More than 70 per cent consumers want to shop for luxury products in India rather than abroad.

Under this partnership, Exclusively will complement Snapdeal’s existing ecosystem and will provide a consolidated offering for the luxury and lifestyle shopper, making it India’s first online luxury mall. Luxury and premium fashion brands from across the world can now open stores in Exclusively’s online luxury mall.

Exclusively will continue to function as an independent site and all aspects of Exclusively’s online shopping experience will remain intact, with new collection and service augmentations in the pipeline. With its nationwide reach, robust technology platform and deep consumer insights, Snapdeal will help Exclusively scale up and expand its current business and reach.

Beside featuring India’s leading designers on its site, Exclusively’s portfolio of partners also includes recently launched premium fashion MBO’s and retailers such as Angsutra, Bungalow 8, CMYK, Ekaya, En Inde, Le Mill, Neel Sutra and Studio Rudraksh. In 2015, Exclusively plans to launch leading international luxury brands and designers on the site.

Speaking about the announcement, Sunjay Guleria and Mohini Boparai-Guleria, co-Founders of Exclusively said, “Exclusively has built and grown a cache of leading premium Indian designers, brands and boutiques. The partnership with Snapdeal comes at the right time. With increased awareness and growing disposable incomes, premium and luxury consumption in India is seeing a significant upward trend. With the geographical limitations of the brick-and-mortar model, we strongly believe that the luxury and premium segments can only be grown by sharing access with the consumer. With Exclusively’s fashion experience and Snapdeal’s scale of operations, we look forward to not just servicing large metros, but also the aspirational demand in smaller towns across India.”