Lots of small startups had proliferated the Indian hyperlocal services space, and now the biggies are now coming in in droves. After Quikr had launched its hyperlocal arm, and Facebook had made a bold play in the space, India’s 2nd biggest e-commerce company, Snapdeal, has launched its own version of hyperlocal services.
Snapdeal now offers 80+ hyperlocal services on its app, including services like yoga instructors, make up artists, and wedding photographers. It doesn’t have its own listings though – it’s tied up with UrbanClap to deliver these results to its users. Bessemer Venture Partners is a major investor in both Snapdeal and UrbanClap.
.@urbanclap 80+ services live on @Snapdeal Android app, joining @zomato, @redbus, @cleartrip and @freecharge. pic.twitter.com/9jLJyNJtDV
— Anand Chandrasekaran (@anandc) May 8, 2016
Snapdeal is rapidly trying to make its mark in areas other than e-commerce. Earlier, it had tied up with Zomato for food deliveries and Cleartrip for flight bookings. Its vertical expansion seems very reminiscent of fellow-Alibaba backed company Paytm, that apart from e-commerce, also offers bus tickets, hotel tickets and even gold loans on its platform. Interestingly, “super-apps” are popular in China, in which one app takes care of lots of services, including chat, bookings and shopping.