Flipkart Decides To Shut Down Ebay.In, To Launch Its Own Refurbished Goods Platform

After welcoming Walmart on board by selling it a 77% stake, Indian ecommerce company Flipkart has now decided to shut down eBay.in, with plans to launch its own platform to sell refurbished goods.

The company believes that the new platform has a different value proposition compared to its portfolio operations and will cater to a different target audience.

Flipkart acquired the Indian operations of global online retailer eBay in March 2017 after it raised the $1.4 Bn funding round from Microsoft, eBay, and Tencent Holdings.

It must be noted that in May this year, reports had surfaced that eBay has decided to end its strategic partnership with Flipkart and relaunch ebay India focussed on cross-border trade. The operations of ebay.in will be shit down with effect from August 14, 2018.

In an email to employees, Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy said: “Based on our learnings at eBay.in, we have built a brand new value platform launching with refurbished goods — a large market which is predominantly unorganised. With Flipkart’s customer base and F1 Info Solutions & Services in our group portfolio, I believe that we can solve the key barriers to refurbished — trust & convenience — at scale.”

“Our endeavour will be to ensure that all the eBay.in sellers and customers migrate to the new platform over time with a remarkably enhanced experience,” Krishnamurthy added.

eBay And Flipkart: A Year-Long Relationship

eBay entered the Indian market way back in 2004. It began operations through the acquisition of News Corp-backed Bazee.com.

Later, it also invested a significant amount in ecommerce player Snapdeal to claim a pie of the burgeoning Indian ecommerce ecosystem and eventually wrote down a $61 Mn investment in the e-tailer in February 2018.

However, despite being a first mover, eBay continued to struggle to mark its presence in the Indian market which is dominated by Flipkart and Amazon India.

After Flipkart acquired eBay’s India operations last year, Flipkart decided to use eBay India platform for global outsourcing. Thus, in June 2017 it shut down Flipkart Global programme, which started in January 2016, as stated by the company in media statements earlier.

Some of the markets where Flipkart has already reached via Flipkart Global, included the United States, UK, Germany, Canada and Australia. With the new partnership with eBay, Flipkart allowed users from about 200 international markets to purchase products on its marketplace.

With Flipkart ending operations of eBay.in completely now for sake of its own venture after Walmart acquisition, eBay has been left with no choice, but to start its India journey again, this time in the cross-border trade.

According to a present statistic report, the sales associated international selling sites will cross $3.5 Tn by 2019. whereas the global cross-border ecommerce market size will be doubled over the next four years to reach $424 Bn by 2021.

The market opportunity is huge, but will eBay India get success this time? Only time will tell.

 [The development was reported by ET.]