Months after Flipkart had wrapped up its private labels; it has come up with its own private brand known as “Flipkart Smartbuy”.
This brand will now sell home category and electronic products. Flipkart plans to expand this range further with 50 more categories to be added by month of April.
Flipkart has begun with chargers and cables and will include products as water bottles, jars, and containers. Apparels under this category will be sold from April onwards. It is not as if Flipkart has suddenly decided to take this plunge.
It had been preparing for months for the same and ample consumer research was done and categories shortlisted only after trials. Quality processes were also incorporated and work was done to build leadership teams.
A unique aspect of this venture is that Flipkart is planning to target more than 70 percent unbranded products and only 15 percent of branded products in this category. Logistics also took much time, else Flipkart would have come up with this concept much earlier.
Having a private label will work to the advantage of Flipkart as it will not own the manufacturing but will work with other manufacturers to come up with high-quality products.
Other leaders in the market including Amazon and Big Basket have tried this idea successfully and Flipkart is only following them in doing so.