Flipkart plans to shut down eBay.in, which it had been operating for the last one year. However, eBay is anticipated to relaunch in India very soon as the strategic relationship between the two companies has ended.
Flipkart Pvt Ltd. is an Indian electronic commerce company based in Bengaluru, India. Founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007, the company initially focused on book sales, before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, and lifestyle products.
Chief Executive Officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy informed the employees, “Flipkart is planning to launch a new platform in order to sell refurbished goods. Based on our learnings at eBay.in, we have built a brand new value platform launching with refurbished goods — a large market which is predominantly unorganised.”
He also stated that with Flipkart’s customer base and F1 Info Solutions & Services in the company’s group portfolio, they believe that they can resolve the key barriers to refurbished, trust & convenience, at scale.
In May, eBay had said that it had decided to end its partnership with Flipkart and relaunch eBay India with a strategic offering to focus on cross-border trade.
eBay mentioned earlier that “Following the close of the transaction, we also will be ending our current strategic relationship with Flipkart, which includes unwinding our commercial agreements with Flipkart and terminating Flipkart’s license to use the eBay’s (eBay.in) brand.”
The company will stop all the customer transactions on eBay.in on August 14, 2018, to transition to the new platform as part of the launch of the new website for refurbished products.
“Our endeavour will be to ensure that all the eBay.in sellers and customers migrate to the new platform over time with a remarkably enhanced experience,” he added.
The new platform has a different value proposition compared to Flipkart and will cater to a different target audience. “We are committed to investing in this independent brand,” Krishnamurthy mentioned.