Flipkart eyes to grab 20pc of the overall TV sales

Flipkart, the leading e-commerce portal in India which expects a quarter of all televisions sold in the country to be retailed online is aiming at snagging at least a fifth of the overall TV sales, both offline and online, in the next 18 months.

According to Flipkart, the Indian television market is estimated to grow to 42,000 crores by 2020. So, seeing huge potential for its own business, the Bengaluru-based company is planning a series of measures and some exclusive tie-ups with large brands, easy loans for consumers and improved after-sales service for installation of these appliances through its after-sales unit Jeeves Consumer Services.

"A consumer who buys an appliance will trust the platform to buy everything from grocery to fashion. So this category is not only important from the units sold or GMV but also customer trust," said Sandeep Karwa, who was recently named the head of large appliances, following a four-year stint in the company, including a successful role as head of the high-volume smartphone business for the company.

According to consumer internet research firm RedSeer, Karwa and his team would be hoping to replicate that success with large consumer durables that accounted for nearly a quarter of the total gross merchandise value of the Indian online retail industry during the first quarter of 2016.

Flipkart now accounts for about 65 percent of all televisions sold online and nearly 60 percent of large appliances retailer on e-commerce platforms in the country, estimated Karwa.

Flipkart, which is already selling TV brands like Vu and BPL exclusively, has recently signed up with South Korean giant Samsung for the exclusive launch of Samsung 40 inch (102 cm) Full HD (1920 x 1080) Smart, Curved LED television priced at Rs 69,900.

Despite the fact that Samsung India has over 2,100 exclusive brand stores and a retail footprint of over 1.5 lakh stores across the country, they have tied-up with Flipkart to meet the growing demands of the online customers spread across the country who feel comfortable to do online shopping even for high-valued products.

With exclusive tie-ups, Flipkart also corners marketing and advertising budget for these product launch through its initiatives like Brand Stores, and Brand Stories where companies can target the 75-million registered customers on the portal.