Flipkart launches new 'marketplace' business model

Now expected to transform from a regular inventory model which needs extensive physical infrastructure to maintain to a marketplace one, yet keep its current customers including buyers and sellers happy, Flipkart has added the Marketplace to its offerings.

This will allow third party sellers to transact easily while users will continue to enjoy COD/EMI options and friendly return/replacement policies. In keeping with its focus on customer delight, Flipkart will establish a protection programme to resolve any complaints.

In terms of enabling the SME community, Marketplace will now allow smaller players to transact on the same platform as larger established retailers and help them garner business intelligence by understanding their position vis-a-vis competition based on factors such as pricing, offers, deals,etc.

Sellers will be identified through a rigorous onboarding process and allowed to sell only genuine products. Sellers who provide a superior customer experience will receive prominence on Flipkart Marketplace.
Sellers can increase their sales multifold by reaching out to Flipkart's large user base, utilize to list or select from Flipkart's existing catalogue and continue to enjoy hassle-free shipping with Flipkart's trusted logistics partner.

"We created the blueprint for Flipkart Marketplace with the determination to take online shopping to the masses. While on the one hand it furthers the Flipkart promise of customer delight by giving more choices at competitive prices, it also serves as the foundation for entrepreneurship to flourish without having to worry about investing in any physical or virtual infrastructure and yet access millions of customers across the country with just a click."

"In the last 12 months, more than 80 million unique visitors have come to Flipkart. Five out of six online Indians visit our website. Sellers on Flipkart will get access to this vast user base - which is akin to the footfall in prime retail spaces in the top 10 cities of the country," said Sachin Bansal, CEO and Co-Founder, Flipkart.

It may be recalled that ShopClues.com which recently completed a year of operations and has grown to be the 5th/6th largest growing ecommerce biz, has modeled its e-com biz on ‘managed marketplace' and is targeting the 30 mn SMBs in the country on basis of relationship building. This model was further based on Amazon's marketplace and somewhat similar to eBay's marketplace, but adheres to strict screening of the sellers. Shopclues co-founder and CEO, Sandeep Aggarwal had told Dataquest, "India is seeing the rise and adoption of internet, the emergence of a middle class, it is an emerging market with growing education, mobile devices; there's no reason India shouldn't do well, e-commerce should do very well and marketplace should move to a superior model."

With environments for doing e-commerce business in India improving and showing less friction, it is time for the competition to hot up.