Club Factory waives off marketing fees to win sellers on Amazon and Flipkart

Chinese fashion and lifestyle e-tailer Club Factory is now reinventing its gameplay in India. After losing early momentum lead in the last six months, Club Factory is setting its business in order with a tweak in its policy.

The e-tailer has been setting up companies locally to import and sell in India. It has been luring local sellers on its platform with marketing fees waive off offer, which is estimated to reduce the cost of selling to around 30%.

The company is targeting local sellers on e-comm marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart, where sellers pay around 15-40 %, depending upon the categories, of selling price as marketing fees.

Club Factory confirmed the development to TOI report.

Chinese e-tailer said that the decision to not charge marketing fees from sellers in India is a step forward to empower local sellers in the country. Club Factory aims to have over half of its seller base from India.

Last month, it silently launched a B2B platform – KartIndian, which allows merchants to buy inventories across three categories including electronics, home furnishing, jewellery, and accessories. Entrackr had reported the development first. It now also offers CoD to consumers.

Earlier, Club Factory consumer business has taken hit after regulatory scrutiny over its pricing disparity.

The Indian government had cracked down on Chinese e-commerce companies including Club Factory, Shein for suspected evading of customs duties by sending goods to India masquerading as “gifts” of low value.

Its courier shipment was hit after Mumbai Custom department crackdown. Club factory sales monthly volume was down by 60-70% in India.

Club Factory shipment came down to 3,00,000 a month from 1.5 million orders. Monthly traffic on the site also came down heavily from last year 40 Mn MAU to 10 Mn MAU.

After a topsy-turvy ride, a pertinent question now pops up here, will the new policy tweaks for Chinese e-tailer work in India? We might have to wait for some time to get the answers.