Snapdeal shuts down fashion portal Exclusively.com

Close to 18 months after acquiring Exclusively.com, Snapdeal has integrated the marketplace for premium branded fashion and lifestyle products with its core offering.

Now, Exclusively will cease to exist as a standalone platform. Its offerings will be available on Snapdeal and orders for its products will be fulfilled through Snapdeal's logistics network, the company said in a statement.  The team members at Exclusively will join Snapdeal.

The move comes amid Snapdeal's attempts to cut operational costs and focus more on profitability and customer experience.

Snapdeal acquired Exclusively (formerly Exclusively.in) for an undisclosed amount in February 2015.

Founded in June 2010, Exclusively initially targeted the US and the UK markets  and later started catering to Indian consumers. In 2012, Exclusively.in Inc, which owned Exclusively.in, along with its private label casual wear brand Sher Singh, was acquired by Myntra.

However, a year later Myntra (prior to Flipkart's acquisition of the fashion e-tailer) sold back Exclusively.in to co-founders, husband-wife duo Sanjay Guleria and Mohini Boparai.

Exclusively provides a range of offerings from both Indian designers and international luxury brands that include DKNY, Armani, Michael Kors, Porsche Design, Marc Jacobs. Other premium brands that include Vera Moda, FCUK, Biba, AND, WLS, Being Human, UCB, Puma, Clarks and Fabindia, among others, are also available on the site.

Mint, which first reported the development citing sources familiar with the development, said Exclusively did 150-200 orders per day with an average ticket size of about Rs12,000-20,000. While the website will be alive for 30-60 more days, users will not be able to buy any products but will be directed to Snapdeal's website.

Like other e-tailers, Snapdeal too has lately been resorting to initiatives aimed at cutting costs and improving customer experience.

Earlier this month, it opened six logistics centres to ramp up its delivery infrastructure and help sellers manage orders and inventory

Last month, Snapdeal reduced the marketing fee charged from sellers for over 120 categories while marginally increasing the fee for over 30 categories including digital products, electronics, women's fashion, FMCG products, sports and fitness, fashion jewelry, kitchen appliances and automotive accessories.

Earlier in July, it launched a range of services including flight and bus ticket bookings, hotel reservations and food ordering, making it the first e-commerce marketplace to introduce such services on its platform.

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