By Shopsy

Flipkart, which is owned by Walmart, has developed Shopsy, a new platform that allows consumers and small businesses to resell goods in their networks using platforms like WhatsApp.


This is a social commerce platform that will allow individual entrepreneurs and small business owners to share Shopsy product catalogs with their networks and accept orders that will be fulfilled by Shopsy. While these people and small businesses will be able to use the platform for free, Shopsy merchants will have to pay the standard marketplace price.

Flipkart's senior vice-president of growth and monetisation, Prakash Sikaria, said the platform will eventually assist resellers in setting up their own websites. Shopify, a company that assists businesses in setting up online storefronts, pioneered this strategy.

Flipkart plans to enable over 25 million online entrepreneurs through Shopsy by 2023, according to Sikaria. The marketplace would have roughly 150 million products in categories including fashion, beauty, mobile phones, and home, but not grocery. Flipkart's internal systems frequently flag bulk orders from a single user, therefore these orders can't be placed there.

“The order has to come back to you. Once you get an order that people need 10 T-shirts, you can come back on the app and place an order on Shopsy and it will be delivered by Flipkart,” Sikaria explained.

As a result, Flipkart will operate as a middleman between the seller and the reseller.

Shopsy's goal, according to Sakaria, is to power e-commerce for communities and third-party channels that users trust and spend time on.

This comes as social commerce platforms like Meesho and others try to tap into the burgeoning demand for e-commerce outside of major cities. SoftBank, which is also in talks to invest in Walmart-owned Flipkart, led a $300 million investment led by Meesho.

(Source: Economic Times)