Online Marketplace Snapdeal.com has acquired Shopo.in for an undisclosed amount.At the time of writing this article, Shopo has put up a note on its website, saying that it is now part of Snapdeal. We have contacted Snapdeal for more information on this acquisition and will update once we get a response.
Launched in 2011, Shopo is an online marketplace for handicrafts products. At the time of writing this article, all the links to products led to Snapdeal’s site. Just three months ago, Karthika Nelson, former Chief Executive Office at Shopo, had quit from the position citing medical reasons. Shopo’s other co-founder Theyagrajan had taken over the CEO position since then.
Message on Shopo Website:
If you had placed an order with Shopo and want to know the status, please send an email to ops@shopo.in with your order number or you can give us a call at 08880233322 between 10AM – 6PM(IST).
If your Shopo Wallet has remaining balance, it will be refunded to your bank account/credit card within 10 working days.
On E-Commerce Acquisition and Shut downs
Niche e-commerce players are either shutting shop or getting acquired and then shutting shop. Earlier this month, Bangalore based Aporv, an online portal for Indian handicrafts had shut shop. Launched in June 2010, Aporv had partnered with artists, NGO’s, Self help groups, and designers across India to brings their hand crafted products on its website. Last year, the company claimed that it had visitors from more than 90 countries and buyers from India, USA, UK, Singapore, among others.
In March 2013, Online fashion and beauty retailer Urban Touch, which was acquired by FashionAndYou.com last August for a reported $30 million, had shut shop, and UrbanTouch founder Abhishek Goyal, who had joined FashionAndYou as CEO following the acquisition, has quit the company.
Online private labels Zovi and Inkfruit had also merged last month and the joint entity had raised $10 million funding from SAIF Partners and Tiger Global. In November 2012, Myntra had acquired Exclusively.in and its private label Sher Singh in a cash and equity deal. The company had stated that following the acquisition, the Sher Singh brand of products will be exclusively sold on Myntra.com and shersingh.com, although the SherSingh website was down for maintenance at the time of writing this article. Myntra had stated that Sher Singh’s senior management team along with its employees will be joining Myntra and help strengthen Myntra’s private label portfolio.
In April 2012, Snapdeal.com had acquired Esportsbuy.com, an online retailer of sports and fitness equipment and had shut it down two months after the acquisition. Similarly, Flipkart had also acquiredone of its competitors Letsbuy.com in a cash-and-equity deal in February 2012 and had shut it down in May 2012.
