Flipkart launches smartphone brand ‘Billion Capture+’

In-house brand and private labels are an important part of the strategy for top-tier e-commerce companies in India. After launching multiple brands in apparels under Billion brand, Flipkart has launched 'made-for-India' smartphone Billion Capture+.

Designed and manufactured by IoT company Smartron, Billion Capture+ has two versions in a price range of Rs 10,999 and Rs 12,999, reports Economic Times. The Softbank-backed company is eyeing to capture 7-8 per cent share of overall smartphone volume through Billion Capture+.

Flipkart will launch both models of Billion Capture+ on November 15.

“How big it will become is yet to be seen, we are pretty confident that it will be among the top 10 brands on the platform,“ Sachin Bansal told ET.

Importantly, Flipkart had launched a range of Android tablets under its in-house brand Digiflip in 2014. However, it didn’t work.

Currently, there are myriad of brands in the smartphone segment and Flipkart is a key seller to smartphone makers such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Lenovo, Motorola and Samsung. Billion Capture+ will directly compete with the aforementioned brands.

However, Bansal believes that Billion Capture+ will help the market to grow further and won’t hamper other brands on the platform.

“One has to think about differentiation very carefully, especially where electronics and appliances are concerned. We now have a very sharp focus on quality within the Flipkart Billion team, about 20% of the team just focuses on quality, which works even better than branded products," added Bansal.

After launching the private label for women’s ethnic wear Divastri, Flipkart had launched another private label – Metronaut in men’s category in July this year. In the same month, it had launched mixer grinders, cookware, backpacks and irons under the brand Billion.

The brand primarily positioned to woo consumers across tier II and III cities, who always see value for money while buying anything. Hoping big from its private label bets, the e-commerce major is expecting to have 10 per cent of its overall revenue by the end of current fiscal.

In-house brand and private labels are considered an important ingredient for e-commerce companies to improve unit economics as they offer better margin in a business where margins are wafer thin.