Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics?
In 2015, Snapdeal, an e-commerce company in India, faced a supply chain situation in reverse logistics. In conforming to the industry trends, the company had a policy on assured product returns, which led to most customers returning to an online merchant for future purchases. However, by the end of 2015, the estimated worth of products returned under the Indian e-commerce platform was $800 million to $1 billion. The rate of returns of online products could add substantial logistics costs to each product return, hampering the industry's growth. Snapdeal had some serious questions to address. Should it reverse its policy and not give customers a chance to return products? Should the company connect organizations and retailers with customers and derive valuable feedback from them? Should Snapdeal alter its product return policy in favour of a "free returns" or "no questions asked" return policy? Would corrective action be required for the e-commerce industry so companies like Snapdeal could create a return policy for customers who had legitimate reasons to return products? Poonam Garg is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. Rashmi Kumar Aggarwal is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
Swot Analysis of "Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics?" written by Poonam Garg, Rashmi Kumar Aggarwal, Vaibhav Garg includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Snapdeal Return facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Snapdeal Return, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Snapdeal Return operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Snapdeal Return
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Snapdeal Return
Strengths Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Snapdeal Return in Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Snapdeal Return has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Snapdeal Return to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Snapdeal Return to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Snapdeal Return is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Poonam Garg, Rashmi Kumar Aggarwal, Vaibhav Garg can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Snapdeal Return are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Snapdeal Return is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Snapdeal Return digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Snapdeal Return has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Snapdeal Return in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Snapdeal Return in the sector have low bargaining power. Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Snapdeal Return to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Snapdeal Return has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Snapdeal Return is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Snapdeal Return is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Snapdeal Return is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Snapdeal Return has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Snapdeal Return is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Snapdeal Return has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Snapdeal Return has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Snapdeal Return, firm in the HBR case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics?, it seems that the employees of Snapdeal Return don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Snapdeal Return has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Snapdeal Return products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Snapdeal Return needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Snapdeal Return has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Snapdeal Return 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Snapdeal Return in the consumer business. Now Snapdeal Return can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Snapdeal Return to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Snapdeal Return to increase its market reach. Snapdeal Return will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Loyalty marketing
– Snapdeal Return has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Snapdeal Return can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Snapdeal Return can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Snapdeal Return is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Snapdeal Return can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Snapdeal Return in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Snapdeal Return can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Snapdeal Return to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Snapdeal Return to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Snapdeal Return can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Snapdeal Return operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Snapdeal Return has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Snapdeal Return to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? case study. Snapdeal Return can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? are -
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Snapdeal Return.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Snapdeal Return demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Snapdeal Return business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Snapdeal Return can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Snapdeal Return is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Snapdeal Return with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Snapdeal Return high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Snapdeal Return has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Snapdeal Return needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Snapdeal Return in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Snapdeal Return needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Snapdeal Return can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Snapdeal Return needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Technology & Operations industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Snapdeal Return in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Snapdeal: A Nightmare or a Benefit in Reverse Logistics? is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Snapdeal Return needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
