In a bid to cement its position in fashion and lifestyle segment, eCommerce major Flipkart is sketching roadmap to enter into exclusive licensing agreements with several brands including Provogue, Swiss Military, Carlton London and Chemistry among others. Flipkart’s fashion arm Myntra is already adhering to similar guidelines as the latter deals into exclusive licensed merchandise of brands as HRX, Harley Davidson, Marie Claire etc. The move is aimed at getting greater control on the product range and pricing of these brands. The eRetailer, which now owns Jabong as well, has plans to even manufacture some of the products for these brands which will be available only on its platform. In words of Rishi Vasudev, VP at Flipkart Fashion, these partnerships would ensure that a broader range of products is listed under ‘Flipkart-Assured’ - its newly launched programme that guarantees an overall better consumer experience and quality. Flipkart has also inked an exclusive brand tie-up with Peter England for PE shoes and Flying Machine, Vasudev revealed. In the fashion and lifestyle segment, footwear is one of the biggest revenue generators for the etailer. “We are outsourcing the manufacturing of these products to different partners. Footwear has very high penetration online — close to 35 per cent of the organised market. It has become the main channel for most brands to sell, so we have launched this exercise with footwear,” he said. This latest move from the largest home-grown eRetailer comes at a time when the festive season is approaching, more so when it has locked horns with arch rival Amazon. Fashion is among the top two categories for the Bengaluru-based company. It recently acquired Jabong for $70 million, marking its clear dominance in the online fashion market. “Flipkart Fashion dominates the online space in footwear with over 45 per cent share. This category is three times of any other horizontal player and twice of any vertical player. Even in the unbranded segment, there are many sellers that derive around 50 per cent of their total business from Flipkart alone.
