Online majors launching their private brands for better control and margins

Flipkart, the largest online fashion retailer in the domestic market after acquiring Myntra and Jabong, has launched its first private fashion label Divastri, a women’s ethnic wear brand. With this launch, the company is targeting unstitched garments category, typically served by long tail merchants in a bid to control quality and pricing in the segment. Rishi Vasudev, VP of Fashion at Flipkart commented on the development, and said that “We have some basic line of private label but Divastri will be our first brand in the fashion space. We have selected over 20 sellers, some of whom double up as manufacturers to licence the brand and sell on the Flipkart fashion marketplace. We have started with a selection of 1,500 and will soon ramp it up to 2,500”.

The share of fashion in the company’s gross merchandise value has remained static between the first quarter of 2016 and that of 2017. However, the etailer expect this number of grow substantially as Fashion has become one of the preferred segments for the company after electronics. So much so that Flipkart has acquired Myntra and Jabong becoming the largest player in the ecommerce space. Rishi Vasudev also reaffirmed that Flipkart will be introducing new labels in the coming months as part of the fashion vertical. The current line will meet quality standards with a uniform design story for its offerings.