Flipkart, a major online retailer plans to launch exclusive sales for over 30 global brands on its portal next year, as more marketers seek to benefit from the rising reach of online retail in India.
The Bengaluru-based company, which sold millions of units for Chinese phone maker Xiaomi and Motorola, is looking to replicate the success across categories. “The criterion to select the brands is based upon needs of Indian consumers and whether they are getting that product at the price they want,” Mr. Michael Adnani, vice-president of the retail said, adding that nearly 70 brands had approached his company for exclusive tie-ups. This year, apart from mobile phones Flipkart has been the sole marketplace for several fashion and apparel brands like Diesel, Debenhams and Kenneth Cole Reaction.
Delhi-based Snapdeal is also looking to partner with over 450 brands next year, though not all of them will be exclusive tie-ups. “We will jointly work on new product launches, co-marketing initiatives and will help them increase their market share through data analytics,” Mr. Sandeep Komaravelly, a senior vice-president for marketing at Snapdeal said.
Both Flipkart and Snapdeal expect to strengthen their technology platform to deal with steep increase in traffic that comes with exclusive product launches. Snapdeal will invest about $250 million to scale up its technology platform. New technology development centres will be set up with the first one expected to come up in Bengaluru soon. Flipkart also plans to scale up its IT infrastructure.
