Alcatel Partners Flipkart To Sell ‘Made In India’ Smartphones

SUMMARY

The consumer technology brand plans to make its smartphones locally in the country and will also set up a pan-India after-sales network

Alcatel said that the collaboration will leverage Flipkart’s ecommerce network to shore up the sales of its phones across metros and tier II & III cities

This comes at a time when Flipkart is under the radar of CCI for exclusive product launches with OEMs like Samsung and Xiaomi

After a decade-long hiatus, French smartphone maker Alcatel is returning to the Indian shores with its “Make In India” pitch.

The consumer technology brand plans to make its smartphones locally in the country and will also set up a pan-India after-sales network, Economic Times reported.

As part of this, Alcatel announced a “retail” partnership with Flipkart to launch its range of smartphones on the ecommerce platform and its quick commerce vertical, Minutes.

In a statement, Alcatel said that the collaboration will leverage Flipkart’s ecommerce network to shore up the sales of its phones across metros and tier II & III cities.

“… This strategic partnership with Flipkart is instrumental in bringing that vision to life. Leveraging Flipkart’s expansive reach and deep market insights, we aim to offer high-quality products backed by a reliable, seamless after-sales service, ensuring an elevated consumer experience across the country,” said Alcatel chief business officer (CBO) Atul Vivek.

Operated by China-based TCL Communication under a trademark licensing agreement from Nokia, Alcatel sells a range of smartphones across more than 160 countries. The company first entered India in 1996 to sell cordless mobile phones. However, it exited the local market in 2016 following the acquisition of erstwhile Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia.

For Flipkart, the partnership with Alcatel comes at a time when it is under the radar of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for exclusive product launches with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Samsung and Xiaomi.

Last year, the watchdog internally found the ecommerce giant, along with rival Amazon, guilty of violating antitrust laws by giving preference to certain sellers on its platforms and indulging in predatory pricing tactics.

However, following the order, multiple sellers of Amazon and the Walmart-owned company filed petitions in various high courts (HCs) across the country, challenging various aspects of the CCI’s probe.

In September, the Karnataka HC stayed further proceedings against both Flipkart and Amazon, prompting all other HCs to pass similar orders. Subsequently, in January this year, the Supreme Court (SC) also transferred a clutch of petitions filed against the CCI by these sellers to a single-bench of the Karnataka HC.

However, this is not Flipkart’s only brush with the law. Last month, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) conducted a series of raids at Flipkart’s multiple warehouses for selling non-certified goods.

The development also comes at a time when Flipkart is looking to aggressively scale up its quick commerce platform Minutes.

Last week, the ecommerce juggernaut said that it has so far set up more than 200 dark stores across 14 cities. On top of this, the company plans to expand the network to 500-550 dark stores ahead of its ‘Big Billion Days’ sales later this year

To fuel its expansion plans and take on incumbents like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, Flipkart’s India marketplace arm also received an infusion of around $379 Mn from Singapore holding company earlier this month.