MUMBAI: Walmart-owned Flipkart will no longer charge any commission to sellers for products priced within Rs 1,000, which covers broad se-lection of the product listings on the platform. In a move that analysts say has been taken to fend off competition from value commerce player Meesho, Flipkart will also not charge commission for any product sold on its hyper-value platform Shopsy.The value offering essentially caters to the masses and low-income segments with a large share of the products priced at a few hundred rupees. “Unlike Flipkart and Amazon, Meesho doesn’t chare take rates to merchants but makes money on advertisements and mark-up on logistics,” analysts at BofA said.Commission on the platform ranges between 6%-7% and can go upto 15%. Commission is a fee that sellers pay e-commerce firms such as Flipkart and Amazon for every sale made through the platforms.Flipkart is also slashing re-turn fees for sellers by Rs 35. In an interview to TOI,Kapil Thi- rani, business unit head, marketplace and Shopsy at Flipkart said that these steps, to be implemented from Nov 19, would reduce the cost of doing business for sellers by about 30%. If sellers pass on the entire benefit to consumers over and above the GST cuts, prices for them could drop by the same quantum, potentially boosting online consumption ahead of the winter festivities and nudging more middle-class shoppers to go online.“We want to make sure that demand grows further…it is in line with what govt has also been trying to do. The bigger impact will be on the end consumer pricing. Once sellers passes on the benefits, consumption should increase,” Thirani said. Already, the GST cuts, income tax benefits and lower inflation have aided consumption with Flipkart having seen better sales in November so far led by fashion and beauty and personal care segments, said Thirani. “With winters setting in early, a lot of demand is coming in for winter products,” Thirani added. In March this year, rival Amazon had slashed commission on products priced under Rs 300. Flipkart is betting on the move to also get sellers from more smaller towns to shift to e-commerce. With reduced costs, existing sellers are also expected to broaden selection of products for consumers, said Thirani. “Key manufacturing hubs like Shantipur, Morbi and Khurja are not that digitised yet and it is a great opportunity for us to get them on our platform,” Thirani added.In a recent note, BofA Securities said that the mass-market value focused users are largely on Meesho, premium users are on Amazon while urban and tier one and two city users are on Flipkart.
