- Snapdeal says its brand registry helps sellers protect their registered brands
- Delhi court had advised Snapdeal to restrain from selling Casio products in July 2019
Snapdeal is scaling up its brand registry program. The e-commerce portal has 5,00,000 registered sellers, who together have more than 200 million listings on the platform. Snapdeal’s brand registry is expected to scale up to include more than 5000 emerging brands by March 2020.
“Many of the sellers have successfully developed their own brands for online sales. The success of these brands leaves them open to the threat of their brand name being misused by those looking to sell lookalike products under the same name,” said Snapdeal’s spokesperson.
Court order in July 2019
Casio, a Japanese multinational, had initiated a legal action against the website in the District Court of Delhi earlier this year. Based on the submissions advanced on behalf of Casio, the Court had granted an ad-interim ex-parte injunction order in favour of the Casio restraining Snapdeal inter-alia from selling, displaying and advertising goods bearing the trademarks of Casio.
S.K. Bansal, advocate representing Casio, had opined that, “The brand owners have to constantly confront and combat the counterfeits. The Indian judiciary has also recognized this need of the hour by fastening the liability on the anonymous entities operating behind the screens.”
Snapdeal’s focus on emerging brands and the unbranded segment
Snapdeal said that is now focussing on the value-conscious segment. This segment, as per the e-commerce portal, comprises of emerging brands and the unbranded segment. Interestingly, there are a lot of new consumer electronics brands entering the markets in India.
Company’s official statement read, “The unbranded market in India is worth ~ USD 160 Billion and is now starting to come online in a big way to meet the demand of buyers from non-metro cities. The emerging brands focus on serving the unmet needs of buyers by focusing primarily on the functional attributes and with a pricing strategy that doesn’t include large brand premiums.”
“The program is aimed at helping SMEs create and grow their own brands. This initiative strongly supports, domestic “Made-in-India” brands in their online growth. We are happy to be able to support these brands right from the initial stages of their journey,” added Snapdeal’s spokesperson.
