Flipkart’s game-changing licensing initiative

In order to ease the process of licensing, e-commerce biggie Flipkart has launched a pilot project that will bring together international brands and local sellers. The e-tailer hopes to rake in more profits through the sale of expensive branded products. Till now, the gross value of licensed products sold in India, most of which is offline, is more than two billion dollars (Rs 13,000 crores). Flipkart hopes to bring this profit online and help brands to tap into its existing customer base.

The e-tailer has already created a template for international companies to license brands to local firms. Brands will be asked to maintain product exclusivity online and also, the brand licensing programme will be open only to companies which have a proven track record of sales and quality products. This programme is a part of Flipkart’s various seller initiatives such as helping in getting short-term capital loans and procurement of raw materials. The portal hopes to promote authentic goods through its platform by acting as an intermediary between brands and sellers. Gaurav Marya, representative of the Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association in India believes that ‘marketplace in India have been doing a great job and now it’s time they integrate and aggregate global brands’.

Global media major Viacom is the first company to license three of its brands, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob and Peanuts, to Flipkart. The e-tailer is changing the whole game, as Manish Maheshwari, head of seller ecosystem at Flipkart believes. He says that this initiative will be a game-changer for all international brands.