After launching private labels for clothing and electronics, the Bangalore-based eCommerce startup — Flipkart, has now launched a private label for large appliances, named MarQ.
With the launch of this new private label, the company now has five in-house brands. Previously, Flipkart had launched a range of its own labels in fashion, electronics and accessories, and furniture.
As per the company, pricing of the products offered under the MarQ brand will be around 15-20 percent lower than comparable appliances. The company will also be offering after-sales services such as installation and repair.
Adarsh Menon, vice president and head of private labels at Flipkart, said,
Large appliances is an extremely important and strategic category for Flipkart as it has a lot of potential for online disruption. We want to make the products affordable while making them high quality and durable.
He further says that he expects Flipkart to score over the competition because of Flipkart’s in-house partner Jeeves Consumer, which will help with quick deliveries, installation and repairs across over 200 cities.
A few months ago, Flipkart launched a private label ‘Billion’ that aims to bring high-quality products designed to cater to the unique needs of Indian customers.
Prior to that, the company had launched its private label in fashion. For women’s ethnic wear, it launched ‘Divastri‘ with more than 1,500 styles of sarees, lehenga cholis, and dress materials. For men’s fashion, Flipkart launched Metronaut with over 300 styles in clothing and accessories.
It had also launched ‘Flipkart Smartbuy’, which is an umbrella brand that was launched to sell in about 50 categories including consumer electronics and home.
Flipkart is planning to expand its private label push to 72 categories over the next few months. So far, Flipkart has launched private labels that covers at least 35 categories on its platform.
Nowadays, eCommerce firms in India are taking the path of launching their own private labels. The move is aimed at increasing their margins, as well as to have a control on the overall customer experience, from delivery to aftersales and repair service.