Snapdeal has launched a new mobile site dubbed Snap-lite, just days after Flipkart Lite was introduced by the rival e-commerce site. While the former is simply a lighter version of the regular site, the latter is a fully-fledged webapp.
Snap-Lite was announced by Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief Product Officer at Snapdeal, via his Twitter account. He claims that the newly optimized mobile site is 85% faster than the normal rate. It’s additionally available across all mobile browsers, unlike Flipkart Lite which currently only works with Chrome and Opera in Android devices.
Flipkart is planning to roll the product out to more platforms in the future. To use Snap-lite, people have to scroll down to the bottom of the Snapdeal website on their handset and select it. It will become their default choice and load automatically on every subsequent visit. For individuals with faster connectivity, there’s a 3G mobile site, a full desktop version and the option to download the app.
Snapdeal has not equipped the lighter browser with any special features like Flipkart Lite’s push notifications or offline access. The webapp acts as a hybrid experience for users, offering the benefits of an application within the accessibility of a browser. Its limited reach might hamper its success for now, but could gradually convert consumers who are reluctant to download the app.
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Neither website seems likely to go app-only any time soon. The rivalry between the two has heated up in the past year. For instance, Snapdeal had announced an Instant Refunds service back in September, two weeks after Flipkart had started a similar facility. The first promised payback within an hour of receiving the product, and the second guaranteed a return within 24 hours.