NEW DELHI: Snapdeal, the Indian e-commerce business, is investing heavily in a rebrand as it seeks to attract the next wave of online consumers.

"The new positioning is focused on the aspirational India," explained co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl.

"It is about understanding that each purchase is not just a transaction," he added, "but an opportunity to upgrade to a better life as is expressed in the new brand identity – Unbox Zindagi."

More than Rs 200 crore has been invested in the rebranding initiative – including a new logo – which comes ahead of the all-important festive season and which will include a 360-degree marketing campaign.

The nature of e-commerce in India is changing, Bahl suggested, as functional benefits like discounts and fast shipping are increasingly taken for granted. In future, he argued, "e-commerce brands will have to stand for something of a higher order".

A study earlier this year from Google and AT Kearney found that India's online shoppers were prepared to look beyond the discounts on offer and to pay a premium for services such as faster delivery times and easy returns.

In any case, new rules governing online deals have meant a scaling back of the short-term, promotion-led approach that characterised the sector's early years.

India.com noted that, despite its focus on offering the highest discounts and lowest prices, Snapdeal was "a distant third" in the e-commerce market, behind Flipkart and Amazon India, adding that it "now seemingly aims to create a trust factor among its potential consumers".

In that regard, it may still be playing catch-up with its rivals, however, as both of them have already developed campaigns that reassure would-be shoppers about those issues holding them back from making an online purchase.

Data sourced from India, MoneyControl, Business Standard; additional content by Warc staff