Snapdeal to focus on rural areas, small towns

E-commerce major Snapdeal, which nets over 70% of sales from small towns, is betting big on rural markets and is actively assessing opportunities of partnerships for assisted e-commerce in remote areas. "Rural markets offer a huge untapped potential and we are assessing the opportunities of tie-ups for assisted e-commerce in rural areas very seriously. We also expect a majority of our new customers to come from hinterlands," co-founder and chief executive Kunal Bahl.

The business model for rural markets is assisted e-commerce, and "not necessarily delivering to customers' houses directly," he said, adding supply chains are still being big issues in smaller towns. Assisted e-commerce is where person comes to a kiosk, places an order and picks it up.

Snapdeal tied up with Sidbi to offer easy and cost efficient financing to its sellers.