The e-commerce marketplaces are looking for customized services from the on-demand service companies that are willing to shell out a premium sum of money.
Apart from long contracts of a year or two, the marketplaces also look for customised services from on demand services companies, willing to pay a premium. Of course, it is easy to purchase furniture or washing machine from the e-commerce portals, but it is unclear as the wait for installation is too long. In order to give a better customer experience, the large marketplaces are partnering with the service providers of on-demand services to ensure satisfactory after sales services.
These on-demand service providers ensure to provide a range of services such as installation of appliances, repair and maintenance of the goods during the warranty period, and fitting furniture.
Amazon has invested Rs 150 crore in the on-demand service provider Housejoy last year. Flipkart acquired a stake Jeeves, an appliances installation company in 2014. Even Snapdeal, Quikr and Paytm are partnering with such companies.
Amit Bagaria, the Vice President of Paytm that is backed by Alibaba stated that they are partnering with the on-demand companies and believe in installation, servicing and post sales services that are done by the brands and their franchisee to solve the issue related to after sales services.
As per Aditya Rao of LocalOye that backs Tiger Global, these partnerships minimize the cost spent by the customers for the services. Besides long contracts of one or two years, these services from the on-demand service companies will save more money.
Snapdeal’s Rahul Taneja stated that the marketplace has partnered with many on-demand service providers in order to meet post-sales requirements.
UrbanClap is the largest player in this segment and it raised Rs 165 crore of funds from Bessemer Venture Partners in November 2015. The company is focused on B2C products. Earlier this year, the company acquired Handymen that is focused on the installation of large appliances.
