Flipkart seeks exclusive sellers

Bengaluru-based Flipkart wants exclusive sellers to prevent poaching by rival Amazon.

Flipkart indicated it was planning a pilot programme in the next couple of months to to zero in on a set of sellers for exclusive deals.

“There is something in the pipeline, a plan for sellers exclusive on our platform. It will chart the expectations we have from sellers and what they will receive from Flipkart in return,” said Nishant Gupta, director, marketplace, Flipkart.

Experts said this could include a membership-based service where select sellers receive better deals and pay lower commissions. “Such an arrangement will ensure sellers stay loyal to Flipkart,” said a source close to the company.

Agreeing that Flipkart had gone through a rough patch with sellers, Gupta said the company had in March 2016 revamped the way it dealt with them. “Sellers earlier were not pleased with Flipkart. Many sellers complained Flipkart was not listening to them or helping them with their problems. We tightened the loopholes and invested in seller support,” Gupta said.

The company claims these measures have raised its “seller satisfaction score” to above of 95 per cent. Gupta said Flipkart had launched a priority seller support service, introduced a tiered system for sellers and invested in fulfilment centres.

“We are scaling up capacities in warehouses. For bigger sellers, we are increasing capacity and we are ensuring there is a shorter cycle for them for fulfilment of their products,” Gupta added.

He said Flipkart had earlier this month reduced commissions by 4-5 per cent in various categories for products priced under ~500. In April, it lowered charges that helped in reductions of up to ~24 per shipment. “Economies of scale ensure that the bottom line is not affected,” Gupta said.

“Besides, we offer data intelligence to sellers, providing insights into movement of items,” he added.