#EndOfAnEra: Flipkart to shutdown eBay.in in August
According to ToI, Flipkart is all set to shutdown one of India's oldest e-commerce sites, eBay.in, marking the end of an era. All customer transactions on eBay.in will be halted August 14 onwards, and Flipkart, in eBay's stead, will launch a new platform for used and refurbished products aimed at competing with the likes of OLX and Quikr. Here's all about it.
"Based on our learnings at eBay.in, we have built a brand new value platform with refurbished goods...As part of this launch, we will be stopping all customer transactions on eBay.in on August 14, 2018 and transitioning to the new platform," said Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.
Eager to capitalize on the growing use of telecommunications and internet technology, and to exploit the first-mover advantage and tap into the Indian market, eBay launched its India business in 2004, way before Flipkart was even conceptualized as a company. However, eBay failed to leverage this advantage, and its dreams of dominating the Indian market went sour with the emergence of Flipkart and Amazon.
California-based eBay, in 2017, sold its India business to Flipkart and, for $500mn, bought a stake of around 5% in the Indian e-commerce giant. However, following Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart for $16bn, eBay wanted to part ways and sell its holdings in Flipkart. Now, eBay will end its strategic partnership with Flipkart, and terminate all commercial agreements and Flipkart's licence to use its brand.
As far as Flipkart's new used-and-refurbished goods platform is concerned, not many details are known. According to Krishnamurthy, the platform will have a different value proposition from Flipkart, and will cater to a separate target audience. While the platform will be launched next month, customers might have to wait for up to six months before they can shop on it, added a source.
