Flipkart India has received an infusion of Rs. 2,190.64 crore in the form of equity shares
This comes later the Singapore-based parent company of Flipkart had invested Rs 4,472 crore in the wholesale arm in March this year.As per regulatory filings, the investment from Singapore-based Flipkart Pvt Ltd came in on December 4.
Flipkart and Amazon use their wholesale units as distribution mediums that source products from brands directly and then supply them to third-party sellers to sell on their marketplace platforms.
What experts say?
According to industry experts, this is just a start of investments of Walmart into Flipkart and supplying through a wholesale arm gives e-commercecompanies more control over the quality and supply chain, especially for de-risking key categories.
Flipkart vs. Amazon battle
Driven by strong sales of smartphones,Amazon closed the gap with Flipkart and exceeded its internal sales targetsduring this Diwali Festival Sales. However,Flipkart continued to be top over Amazon in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV), or the overall sale price of goods sold on a site.
According to market research firms,India’s overall online retail surged more than 60% to $2.3 billion during the five-day event, up from $1.4 billion a year earlier.
Indian e-commerce market is breaking records
Flipkart’s spokesperson said, “Flipkart has recorded over 70% share of entire Indian e-commerce market in the five-day TBBD ’18 sale, matching scale with global marquee retail events”, and added, “Massive market share driven by clear leadership in deep penetrated and high ASP categories. GMV grew 80% from last year whereas units grew by close to 2X YoY.”
Indian e-commerce market is predicted to burgeon over 400% in the next eight years. The market is expected reach $200 billion by 2026, up from just $38.5 billion in 2017, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation, a trust established by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.