Flipkart steps up brand partnerships in sports and fitness category for exclusive product lines

In a move towards reducing its dependence on the low margin, mobile phone business which contributes to over 50 per cent of its GMV, the country’s largest e-tailer Flipkart is expanding its sports and fitness selection by partnering with top brands to create exclusive product lines for its customers.

A sub-category under the fashion category, Sports & Fitness targets hobbyists, beginners and experts with over 54,000 products, of which, 1,200 are exclusive, created by partnering with brands like Li-Ning, Nivia, Reebok and Puma. Plans are on to double the number of exclusive products in 12 months and forge more exclusive brand partnerships, a top executive from Flipkart told BusinessLine .

Although Sports & Fitness was launched in late 2012 with just over 2,000 products, it was segregated into a separate focus sub-category under Fashion, only in April 2014 with more sections, including cardio equipment, strength, water sports, indoor sports, exercise & fitness, boxing, martial arts, skating and so on.

“Sports & Fitness category has grown at 65 per cent over the last year with focus verticals like cycles, home gyms, protein supplements growing by 5X times, with the lion’s share of sales - over 45 per cent in these categories coming from South India where younger professionals are more inclined to a fit, athletic lifestyle. Badminton contributes to a third of the category's sales,” Rishi Vasudev, Head – Flipkart Fashion, told BusinessLine .

Stating that Hero Cycles, Yonex, Li-Ning Racquets, Stag Yoga Mats, KRX Home Gyms are some of the top performing brands driving over 25 per cent of Flipkart’s sales in this category, Vasudev said: “While demand for Sports & Fitness products is highest from customers in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, tier II and III cities are the future engines of growth.”

Kuldeep Singh, Founder of TriIndia Training & Research Foundation and the only certified Ironman coach in India, said: “Flipkart’s products are mostly entry level brands targeted at beginners/hobbyists. Athletes and experts want specific products from brands that help improve performance, bio-mechanics etc, which is not available on Flipkart.”

To engage customers during the ongoing IPL season, Flipkart has signed up AB de Villiers as brand ambassador and is running an ‘AB Can Do Everything’ campaign from April-July on its App, which will end with a ‘meet & greet’ opportunity with the man, for the top five spenders.

The next war for market share in the $14.5-billion Indian e-commerce industry will be fought fiercely in the Fashion category. This is because fashion is expected to record the strongest growth in online penetration to become the largest e-commerce category in India, overtaking consumer electronics by 2020, as per a Google and A.T. Kearney report.

Asked why Flipkart was back to heavy discounting of 50-75 per cent on Sports & Fitness products, Vasudev said, “We have reduced seller costs from March 15, 2017, across our product portfolio. As a result, sellers are now able to pass on those savings to customers in the form of discounts.”

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