Flipkart Aims To Be ‘Exclusive’ Fashion Stop Shop, Targets $1.7 Bn In GMV Via Fashion Business

Flipkart is looking to set itself as the fashion stop shop of India by bringing in more exclusive products on its platform. Reportedly, the online retailer is aiming to invest heavily in this sector to tap customers from every niche segment in the $100 Bn overall fashion market in India.

The goal is to ensure that one in every five fashion products on the platform is exclusively co-created or is part of its in-house private labels.

“This year we have a goal that more than 20% of what sells of Flipkart has to be co-created between Flipkart and a partner or would come from an exclusive brand. Earlier it was not a focus area, so only some selection within fashion was exclusive to the platform,”  said Rishi Vasudev, who heads fashion at Flipkart.

In FY 2017-18, the gross merchandise volume (GMV) of the ecommerce unicorn was $7.5 Bn and net sales of $4.6 Bn, representing more than 50% growth year-over-year in both cases, according to numbers shared by Walmart. This has come on the back of growth in categories like fashion, mobile phones, and large appliances.

Most recently, the company claimed to receive a standalone fashion business worth $1 Bn (INR 6,500 Cr) for the year ending March 2018. This has further pushed the company to chase a target of $1.7 Bn GMV run rate by the end of March 2019.

The etailer is further counting upon including “gemstone” and “jewellery” as the focused categories for 2019, which will well accessorize its fashion goal.

Last year, Flipkart launched three private labels – Divastri, Metranaut, and Anmi, while overall six private labels were put on stage. At the same time, it’s fashion subsidiary Myntra is also growing at a fast pace on heels of its offline brand-specific stores and private labels.

As Inc42 reported earlier, from the Big Billion Day Sale in October 2016 to Flipkart Big 10 Sale in May 2017, Flipkart witnessed a remarkable shift in the ‘most-sold category’.

As Rishi stated in an earlier interaction with Inc42 during the June 2017 sale events, “Flipkart Fashion has seen unprecedented growth in sales since the past three days of our five-day Big 10 Sale. With 99% of all Flipkart Fashion styles on sale, this time, the Big 10 Sale is going to be bigger than big, establishing the company as the preferred online shopping destination in the country for trendy fashion at affordable pricing.”

Also, Flipkart has set aside $173 Mn (INR 1,178 Cr) for expenditure on services under its customer loyalty programme for the next three years. The scheme is expected to be launched by the end of July.