Online store goes big on branding.
By Tathagata Mitra
BANGALORE: Flipkart is planning a major makeover of its fashion and lifestyle category, the very same section that brought in a new line of online shoppers, more prominently the youth of urban India.
Flipkart is going big on branding, associating itself with top lifestyle brands. It is moving for dedicated online brand stores, which are to be subsets to its main store.
Flipkart’s reach for the brands has been somewhat a late decision in the making. The online megastore of India should have taken this step much earlier given that its competitor in the e-commerce sector, Myntra.com, had it as part of its business plan since the very beginning.
Myntra.com was launched in 2007, around the same time as Flipkart but the business model has been very different. While Flipkart started out more as an electronic bookstore, Myntra.com was an online gateway to the personalization of products and later the fashion world.
Over the years Flipkart grew as an organization, diversifying rapidly, attracting shoppers from all walks of life. Now Flipkart has decided to go the Myntra way. Myntra.com is already associated with some of top fashion and lifestyle brands in India, such as Basics, Lee, Levis, Steve Madden, FILA, CAT, Timberland, Biba, FabIndia, Nike, Inc., Reebok, Puma, Adidas and many more.
Flipkart is already on its way to the brand world with a newly launched Puma brand store exclusively for Puma products.
The e-commerce sector in India is vast and growing thanks to the rise in the standard of living and the developing internet penetration. Flipkart, with annual revenue of Rs. 1180 crores is being called the poster boy for this industry in India and its name has almost become synonymous with the phrase ‘online shopping’. Other e-commerce sites like snapdeal and olx which provide online retailing services are also expanding.
Flipkart’s new venture into the world of brand stores and fashion is something that the urban young people of India will certainly look forward to.
1 Comment
Flipkart is moving forward for making things in its favour. blossomsquare.com