● Flipkart
Wholesale app, which currently offers fashion products to retailers in 23
cities, saw 75% month-on-month growth in customer base since launch in
September
● Flipkart
Wholesale has seen runaway success with 90% month-on-month growth in
transactions on its platform since its launch, signalling kiranas’ trust in the
Flipkart group
● Best
Price cash-and-carry business saw e-commerce adoption among members grow 10X
during the year with large traction from small cities such as Kota, Guntur,
Rajahmundry, Aurangabad, Karimnagar, Amravati
● Over
95% of overall sales at Best Price cash-and-carry stores were on account of
members in tier 2 and tier 3 cities across nine states in the country
Over
a million small retailers in the country and hundreds of MSMEs continued to
repose their faith on online platforms and digitisation as the entire retail
ecosystem opts for e-commerce as a mode of doing business during the
challenging times of the pandemic. Flipkart Group’s B2B businesses -- Flipkart
Wholesale and Best Price cash-and-carry stores -- have witnessed an increased
uptake of e-commerce in 2020.
Flipkart
Wholesale, the digital B2B marketplace of
FUTURE IS DIGITAL
Flipkart
Wholesale app which currently offers fashion products -- clothing, footwear and
accessories -- to retailers across 23 cities has
also just launched the grocery category in NCR on its platform.
Fashion
retailers, who were not able to travel to fashion hubs for sourcing products in
the aftermath of COVID-19, came on board Flipkart Wholesale which is a one-stop
destination for a wide selection of men’s wear, women’s wear, kidswear and
footwear from hundreds of suppliers across all the fashion mandis of India such
as Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kanpur, Delhi, Surat, Agra, Tirupur, among others.
Flipkart
Wholesale has already recorded 50% month-on-month growth in fashion category
suppliers and enabled 2.5 lakh listings on its platform since its launch, delivering
a major boost to MSMEs in the country and helping realise the Atmanirbhar
Bharat dream.
BHARAT
RETAILERS OPT FOR E-COMMERCE
Within just a few months of its launch, Flipkart Wholesale app has
become a runaway success with 90% month-on-month growth in transactions on its
platform. Encouraging trends have emerged from retailers in small towns who
have taken onto e-commerce as a preferred mode to do business at ease. Infact,
one in every five customers on Flipkart Wholesale is from tier 2 or tier 3 cities.
Through
the year, Best Price cash-and-carry business worked closely with its supplier
partners on transportation and logistics and significantly ramped up e-commerce
and delivery capabilities to ensure members could order and receive products
conveniently amidst the pandemic. As a result, its e-commerce channels saw a
significant uptick.
E-commerce
adoption by Best Price members grew over 10X across 29 stores, with smaller
towns such as Meerut, Kota, Guntur, Rajahmundry, Aurangabad, Karimnagar, Amravati
and Vijayawada accounting for a large part of the e-commerce traction at Best
Price, which signals a surge in Bharat transacting online.
KIRANA
IS KING
Flipkart
Wholesale app saw 75% month-on-month growth in customer base since launch in
September. This growth is the affirmation of the trust that kiranas place with
e-commerce and the potential it has to enable convenience, value for products,
reach and selections, thus helping small businesses thrive.
Despite the challenging business environment posed by the pandemic, Best
Price launched a new store in October in Tirupati to cater to kiranas and small
businesses. The newly launched store in Tirupati is Best Price’s 29th store
in the country where it is present across nine states, and serves kiranas,
offices & institutions, and hotels, restaurants and caterers (HORECA)
through a membership model. The launch of the new Tirupati store further
ensured that the retail ecosystem has a safe and robust omnichannel option for
retailers who are constantly looking for avenues for business continuity.
MSME
CHAMPIONS
Best
Price’s suppliers, most of which are MSMEs, showed exemplary entrepreneurship
amidst the pandemic and created opportunity out of adversity. Rahul Bajaj,
Director of Shree Shakti Enterprises, who has been selling kitchenware to Best
Price stores for the last decade, pivoted to manufacturing hands-free sanitiser
dispensers and hand wash stations at a time when the outbreak had just started.
Best Price helped this supplier during the product building stage through
insights on technical feasibility and commercial viability.
Babita
Gupta of Sarangi Creations, who sells bed sheets and pillowcases to Best Price
stores, pivoted to selling cotton masks during the lockdown using surplus cloth
she had at her factory. Ananth Sagar of Sagar Asia Pvt, a ladder supplier,
pivoted to building disinfection tunnels and COVID testing booths and supplied
these to local hospitals. Flipkart Wholesale’s connection with the retail
ecosystem helped several MSMEs become atmanirbhar (self-reliant) despite
challenges posed by the pandemic.