Flipkart holds talk with distributors, to sell refurbished smartphones by Diwali

Given interest shown by iphone maker Apple in the refurbished smartphones market of India, it has become apparent clear that there are buyers out in the country, who like to buy pre-owned smartphones at affordable price and home-grown e-tailers too want to stake bigger pie in this market.

Latest one to join the bandwagon is Flipkart, which is planing to begin selling refurbished smartphones from popular brands, such as Samsung On Series,
Lenovo, Motorola and Sony Xperia by Diwali, said a person close to the development.

It is in talks with distributors for its offline tie-ups. He also added that Flipkart took the decision after the high rate of handset returns and the absence of a pricing advantage with the introduction of goods and services tax (GST).

However, Entrackr queries in this regard to Flipkart remains unanswered till the publication of this report.

The company plans to get them checked and certified to look and work like new and sell them as Flipkart-certified refurbished handsets. The e-tailer is also planning to shape unorganised refurbished market of India. Flipkart will use its logistics arm Ekart for deliveries.

The refurbished smartphones will be sold through both online and offline marketplaces. The company will be offering three categories of refurbished smartphones, priced at 60-75 per cent of their original value.

Meanwhile, in India the returned phones, after service and refurbishment in the factories are finding takers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

India, a fastest growing smartphone market, is the world’s second largest mobile phone market after China, the third largest smartphone market after China and the US. Smartphone shipments in India grew 18% annually in calendar 2016 compared to the global smartphone market which grew at 3%, according to Counterpoint Research report.

Other than Flipkart, rival Amazon India and ShopClues, already sell such devices. Recently, ShopClues had started a new category titled ‘Re-New Gadgets’ to sell refurbished and unboxed electronic devices such as laptops, smart phones and tablets.

Experts in the industry suggest that e-tailers need to open up newer channels, offline, for refurbished phones sales.