Flipkart aims to expand into new categories
BENGALURU: Flipkart plans to expand its biggest private label Smartbuy across at least 100 categories by the end of the year, a top company executive said, as India’s largest online retailer aims to generate roughly one-fifth of its overall sales from private labels over the next three years.
New businesses such as sports and fitness accessories, stationery and general merchandise will sport the Smartbuy brand, which was launched in 2016.
The brand is currently present in 65 categories such as home appliances and mobile accessories.
“The first big range that you’ll see coming under Smartbuy very soon is actually sports and fitness accessories...the other new range that the brand will get into is stationery and general merchandise, like keychains, notebooks, pens, diaries, etc. And then we’ll expand further into categories where we are already present in. For instance, home appliances is big business as a category and so is mobile accessories,” said Adarsh Menon, vice-president and head of Flipkart’s private label business.
Private labels are a key asset for online retailers, since they typically fetch higher margins than third-party brands.
For Flipkart, the launch of Smartbuy and other private brands was part of a strategy to reduce its dependence on its flagship smartphone business and also improve margins.
Flipkart currently has at least eight private label brands including Billion, which was co-founder Sachin Bansal’s personal project at the company.