E-Commerce major Flipkart is sketching roadmap to enter into exclusive licensing agreements with several brands including Provogue, Swiss Military, Carlton London and Chemistry among others.
The move is aimed at getting greater control on the product range and pricing of these brands, a company executive said. Flipkart, which also owns Myntra and Jabong, plans to manufacture some of the products for these brands which will be available only on its platform.
In words of Rishi Vasudev, VP at Flipkart Fashion, these partnerships would ensure that a broader range of products is listed under ‘Flipkart-Assured’ – its newly launched programme that guarantees an overall better consumer experience and quality.
Flipkart has also inked an exclusive brand tie-up with Peter England for PE shoes and Flying Machine, Vasudev revealed.
In the fashion and lifestyle segment, footwear is one of the biggest revenue generators for the e-tailer. “We are outsourcing the manufacturing of these products to different partners. Footwear has very high penetration online — close to 35 per cent of the organised market. It has become the main channel for most brands to sell, so we have launched this exercise with footwear,” he said.
This latest move from the largest home-grown eRetailer comes at a time when the festive season is approaching, more so when it has locked horns with arch rival Amazon.
Fashion is among the top two categories for the Bengaluru-based company. It recently acquired Jabong for $70 million, marking its clear dominance in the online fashion market. “Flipkart Fashion dominates the online space in footwear with over 45 per cent share. This category is three times of any other horizontal player and twice of any vertical player. Even in the unbranded segment, there are many sellers that derive around 50 per cent of their total business from Flipkartalone.Sellers like Biosport, Advance Gear, Knight Ace have shown 4-8 times growth in the last six months. In fact, several sellers have seen such strong growth that they have become exclusive partners with Flipkart (like Biosport),” he added.
