Almost 2 years ago, Walmart had expressed its interest in opening an ecommerce marketplace in India. The latest development suggests that the American retail giant will enter online space through existing Indian ecommerce players.
According to some fresh reports, Walmart is in tie-up talks with several ecommerce players such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, BigBasket, Shopclues and Grofers. None of the parties involved have spoken about it officially yet.
However, Rajneesh Kumar, VP and Head – Corporate Affairs at Walmart said, “Several businesses in the e-commerce space have approached us to become our members and we are processing those requests.”
The US based retailer entered India in 2007 after tying up with Bharti but their partnership ended in 2013. As 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed in cash-and-carry or wholesale, Walmart India continued to operate and expand its reach in the B2B retail market.
With FDI restrictions in ecommerce industry, Walmart is looking to collaborate with existing Indian online marketplaces to enter B2C ecommerce space. This way the retailer can make its product available to Indian consumers without setting up its own offline or online stores.
Amazon and Walmart are old rivals and have been competing aggressively to become America’s dominant retailer. For both the US based retailers, India is a very profitable market.
Amazon already has a head start and is performing exceedingly well on the Indian turf. If the deal between Walmart and Indian marketplaces Flipkart, Snapdeal and Shopclues materializes, then Amazon could have tough road ahead.
Editor team is specialized in introducing the marketplace content targeting the Indian online sellers. They plan and coordinate to bring the appealing content for the small businesses on how to partner with the e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart and strategies for improving their online business.
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