Sunday 21 February 2016

Is Snapchat Close to Launching an E-commerce Platform?

Not wanting to lose out on the swelling revenue potential from online shopping avenues, Snapchat is about to offer subscribers the opportunity to buy stuff online. The video messenger’s Discover section currently features curated content from across the world. It’ll now also feature a shopping section, if the latest reports hold any credence.

Re/code reported Snapchat board member Joanna Coles as saying that a new channel introduced on Snapchat will be the conduit through which the messenger app will attempt to realize its dream of launching an e-commerce platform. Coles is also the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine; she was speaking at the Code/Media conference organized by Re/Code in California.

Sweet—the channel that’s now the cynosure of all eyes as Snapchat has fueled speculation about its plans to have an e-commerce platform—is a collaboration between Hearst and Snapchat. Coles said that Sweet could eventually morph into an e-commerce platform and subscribers will be able to purchase goods from it.

This is not the first time that Snapchat’s future e-commerce plans have been discussed in the public domain. Previously, Women’s Wear Daily had published a report that said Sweet would allow people to buy via it. However, Re/Code also reported that there were no comments from Snapchat on the matter immediately.

Although it has been over a year since Snapchat brought Krish Jayaram in as the head of ecommerce from PayPal, the former is yet to make any concrete announcements about its e-commerce business. It has only flirted with the possibilities of venturing into this space.

In the meanwhile, in an endeavor to monetize its offerings, the messaging giant has begun to sell premium features such as replays and filters for a nominal fee. The company also currently provides a money channel service – Snapcash. On this move, market watchers have opined that the company has ostensibly started this service to get a hold of consumers’ card information to facilitate payments as and when the company actually launches its e-commerce business.

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