Flipkart partners global cos in private label push

SHENZEN: Flipkart's plan to push private labels aggressively is relying on the company working closely with manufacturers in China, India and other Southeast Asian countries. It has partnered with China's Sharetronic for a range of electronics products under the brand SmartBuy. It has roped in the UK-headquartered product-testing and certification company Intertek's local arm for quality checks, an executive said.

"For any product, there are 'must-have' features and then 'nice-to-have' ones. We are focusing on the must-have features first and bringing them at a cheaper price than average market rate. We have partners like Intertek that run multiple levels of strict quality control before we start selling them on Flipkart," Adarsh Menon, head of private labels for Flipkart, said.

Menon claimed these products were about 15% cheaper than average market rates currently. At present, Flipkart is offering SmartBuy in over 30 categories, but will have close to 40 categories as the e-commerce major prepares for the festive sale season. Flipkart is also pushing its 'Made in India' brand Billion on its platform - the brainchild of founder and executive chairman Sachin Bansal.

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According to people aware of the company's plans, Flipkart is in talks with other large-sized manufacturers in China for products in more categories. On the back of last six months' collaboration with these partners, Flipkart is now hoping to see higher sales from its private labels in the festive season, said Menon. Higher private label sales will offer better margins to the company along with tighter control over inventory .

A spokesperson of Sharetronic said, "Our core strength of R&D and state-of-the-art manufacturing is nicely complemented by Flipkart's wide reach, customer focus and leadership in India. We work with several global brands such as Lenovo, Huawei and Toshiba, and follow the same quality control and turnaround time on Flipkart private label products."