Flipkart to open brick and mortar stores to sell foreign brands

E-com market place Flipkart is chalking out plans to open offline stores to sell foreign brands. Flipkart’s subsidiary Myntra already operates brick and morat stores. Similarly furniture etailer Urban Ladder has operate offline stores to boost growth. However, Flipkart is unlikely to open its own stores, initially, and instead it will act as a master franchisee for foreign brands and sublicense the offline business.

The buzz is Flipkart is in talks with Giordano for a licensing deal to sell the Hong Kong-based apparel and accessory retailer’s products both offline and online in India. The plan is to set up a chain of Giordano-branded outlets, and also offer the products on its digital platform. The company was been looking to enter the brick-and-mortar space for quite some time, and may bring more international brands to sell on its platform as well standalone offline outlets.

The slow growth of the brand has led companies to look beyond online platform to boost sales in a country where a majority of people are wary of online purchases and for whom touch and feel is a major factor in decision-making.

Flipkart is expected to follow Myntra’s strategy which has been selling third-party brands offline. Myntra, is India’s largest online fashion retailer. Earlier this year it had acquired the local franchise for Spain’s brand Mango. Myntra is appointing two sub-franchisees for Mango -- Jaipur-based Samarth, and New Delhi-based G&B that runs 25 stores of Benetton in NCR.