Fashionara launches e-marketplace ‘flea bazaar’

Online portal focused on women’s fashion, Fashionara has launched 'flea bazaar', an e-marketplace where consumers can get hold

of a variety of quirky products from apparels to notepads showcased by local shops and boutique stores. The aim behind launching this initiative is to expand portfolio to improve profit margins and give strong competition to leading platforms like Flipkart, Myntra and Jabong. The marketplace model can also attract foreign investment since FDI in such business models is approved by the Indian government.

Under an e-marketplace, the company does not retail products on its own but links sellers and buyers. Leaders of the Indian e-com market, including Flipkart and Amazon, run marketplace models and are betting big of high margin fashion category. While the platform plans to sign up about 500 vendors this year, on the other hand, it will continue to sell popular brands like Biba and Free Culture through an inventory-based model.

The Bangalore-based company sells premium fashion and lifestyle products with average billing size of Rs 1,500- Rs 2,000 per transaction. The company has said to got an investment of 15-20 million dollars (over Rs 90-120 crores) from Lightspeed Ventures and Helion Ventures in December last year, which it plans to use for further improving consumer experience with new features.