Snapdeal acquires gifting recommendation platform Wishpicker

New Delhi: Online marketplace Snapdeal.com, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, said on Thursday that it has acquired gifting recommendation technology platform Wishpicker.com for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition of Wishpicker comes seven months after Snapdeal acquired Doozton, a social product discovery technology platform. Wishpicker is Snapdeal’s fifth acquisition. The company had earlier acquired Grabbon.com, esportsbuy.com and shopo.in.

Wishpicker was founded in 2013 by Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, graduates Apurv Bansal and Prateek Rathore. The company offers gifting options based on different parameters like relationship with the recipient, their age and personality.

Users can also find gift suggestions based on a person’s social media activities like Facebook “likes” and other interests listed on social media sites.

This acquisition will enable Snapdeal to further personalize user experience and drive conversions through intelligent recommendations, Snapdeal said in a statement.

“We believe that with consumer buying trends evolving, intelligent recommendations will be one of the key drivers for business volume for our sellers. This is an important acquisition for us in terms of adding new technology capabilities and helping sellers connect with buyers in newer ways,” said Rohit Bansal, co-founder Snapdeal.com.

Delhi-based Snapdeal.com was valued at about $1.76 billion (Rs.10,562 crore) after SoftBank Group’s $602 million (Rs.3,612 crore) investment in October.

SoftBank Group, the largest shareholder in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, recently led a $627 million investment in Snapdeal, making it the largest shareholder in the e-retailer.

Snapdeal currently claims to offer more than five million products across 500-plus categories on its platform, with over 25 million registered users and 50,000-plus merchants. The firm aims to expand its merchant base to one million in the next three years, it said in a statement.

Online retail is valued at $3.1 billion and is estimated to grow to $22 billion in five years, according to a November 2013 report by brokerage CLSA.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.