India’s Snapdeal Snaps Up Wishpicker

As Alibaba, Amazon and other global ecommerce players ramp up their operations in India, New Delhi-based online marketplace Snapdeal is beefing up by acquiring online gift retailer Wishpicker, India’s Economic Times reported on Thursday (Dec. 11).

The deal is the first since SoftBank more than doubled Snapdeal’s value with a $627 million investment in October. The companies didn’t reveal how much Snapdeal paid for Wishpicker, which was launched at the end of 2012. But Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl previously told the Press Trust of India that the company was “looking at acquisition opportunities across sizes, ranging from less than $1 million to $100 million.”

Wishpicker’s recommendation engine uses parameters like a customer’s relationship with the recipient, age and personality for suggesting gifts. Snapdeal COO Rohit Bansal said his company expects intelligent recommendations to be a key driver for business volume for sellers.

“We are investing in strengthening our technology platform and Wishpicker.com is an excellent platform with top-tier entrepreneurial, engineering talent and fits in perfectly with our vision,” Bansal said. “This is an important acquisition for us in terms of adding new technology capabilities and helping sellers connect with buyers in newer ways.”

Snapdeal, which has more than 30 million members and 50,000 sellers and delivers products to 5,000 cities and towns in India, previously acquired group buying site Grabbon.com, online sports and fitness store esportsbuy.com, Indian-design retailer Shopo and style-discovery site Doozton.