The employees of Snapdeal, the online retailer, are not very happy with the company. Reports of the shortage of money in the company have made them jittery. The management has conducted a series of hush-hush meetings with them to allay their fears. Since the meetings were not public, the sources did not want to be named.
In order to keep the discounts alive and to retain the customers, Snapdeal is spending huge amounts. The players are many, and so it is necessary to take urgent action. Snapdeal is the number three online store. The investors and the employees are telling the company to consider its bottom line. They also want to keep the market share intact.
The situation is so serious that the founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal made it to five townhall meetings to deliver encouraging speeches.
The employees wanted to know if there were take-over attempts but the reply was only about profitability and more of the same.
Snapdeal lost its second position in sales to Amazon a year ago though Flipkart holds on to its number one position.
Chinese rivals taught a lesson to it, and it all but moved out of China. So Amazon looked India-wards. It has tons of money and invests more and more money in India.
Knowledgeable sources disclosed that Snapdeal is seeking funds from China but has not been successful. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is already an investor though.
Snapdeal is not giving up but gives two years for profits to come in. Some employees are concerned about the group’s direction. The Chinese setback has them worried. Hunt Partners partner Sinosh Panicker says that more Snapdeal employees are applying for jobs in other companies.
Snapdeal says the employees will get incentives after the appraisals going on now. The truth is 600 employees have left in February.
