Snapdeal hires ex-Groupon exec to lead engineering team for logistics

E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal has appointed former Groupon executive Pradeep Desai as its senior vice president (engineering), the Delhi-based firm said in a statement.

Prior to his appointment at Snapdeal, which is run by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, Desai spent nearly three years at Groupon as a vice president where he led product and engineering functions, encompassing aspects like logistics management, seller and interface experiences. Before Groupon, Pradeep spent 11 years at e-tailer Amazon.com, where he worked in various capacities across key departments such as logistics, advertising and marketing. He is an alumnus of The University of Texas at Austin and IIT Madras.

"Pradeep will lead a team whose mandate is to implement a range of additional supply chain innovations to Snadeal's delivery experience. All our initiatives bring us closer to our mission of building India's most reliable and frictionless commerce ecosystem." said Rajiv Mangla, chief technology officer at Snapdeal, on the appointment.

In May, Snapdeal's chief product officer (CPO) Anand Chandrasekaran had quit the company. He has now joined social network website Facebook to help develop strategies for its Messenger app.

In April this year, Snapdeal hired former Zoomcar executive Mayank Jain as head of growth. Zoomcar is a self-drive car rental startup.

 Last year, Snapdeal appointed Jeyandran Venugopal from Yahoo! as its technology adviser. Other high level appointments include Procter & Gamble executive Amit Choudhary who became senior vice president of corporate finance and former Unilever executive Vivek Patankar who was hired as senior vice president of finance.

Snapdeal recently rebranded itself by launching a new logo and tagline 'Unbox Zindagi'. It also launched next-day free delivery and a private cloud service called Snapdeal Cirrus.

Last month, Snapdeal established a wholesale unit, called E-Agility Pvt. Ltd., to buy products that will be sold to consumers directly, following in the footsteps of rivals Flipkart and Amazon. The unit will fund vendors and bring on board fashion brands that sell directly to e-commerce firms as fashion constitutes 20-30% of Snapdeal's business.