Croma, Snapdeal in online sales alliance

Tata Group promoted electronics retail chain Croma and Snapdeal.com have entered into a strategic partnership, under which Snapdeal.com would create Croma's Flagship Store on its e-commerce portal to sell electronics items, including mobiles, tablets and laptops, the two said in a joint statement issued today.

Infiniti Retail Ltd, which runs Croma stores across India, and Snapdeal said, under the strategic partnership, the two will jointly work on market development initiatives, establish joint collaboration on customer and vendor outreach programmes and category development.

As part of this tie-up, in the initial phase, Croma and Snapdeal would jointly work towards market development initiatives, establishment of joint collaboration on customer and vendor outreach programmes and category development.

Both brands would also be looking at exclusive launches of products and brands belonging to select categories. The exclusive launch of Lenovo tablets and special offers on the Karbonn Titanium S10 are recent examples of strategic alliance between Croma and Snapdeal.

"Today's dynamic retail industry demands an infrastructure that is equally robust on the online and brick-and-mortar fronts,'' Infiniti Retail MD and CEO Ajit Joshi said.

"Omni-channel retail is undoubtedly the way forward in the Indian retail industry, and therefore the association is designed to enable Croma and Snapdeal to leverage from each other's strengths, to provide a winning proposition for customers and business alike," he added.

Snapdeal.com co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl said, "This is a big moment for us, where Croma and Snapdeal.com will now leverage their offline and online presence respectively and work jointly to offer a more holistic shopping experience to consumers across the country."

Infiniti Retail Ltd, a 100-per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons, runs Croma stores. Launched in October 2006, Croma has 96 outlets across 16 major cities of India and sells over 6,000 products.

With 6,000 featured brands and 40,00,000 listed products in over 500 categories, Snapdeal offers services in 4,000 towns and cities across India.

The online retailer claims to have 20 million registered users.

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, already holds a stake in Delhi-based Snapdeal (See: Ratan Tata invests in Snapdeal as Tata Value ties up online home sales)  

The online retailer has an existing partnership with another Tata Group company, Tata Value Homes, a subsidiary of Tata Housing with focus on affordable housing - a partnership to enable users to buy houses online (Tata Value Homes ties up with Snapdeal for online sales).