Snapdeal, Amazon no threat: Flipkart targets $8 bn in online product sales in 2015

India’s largest online retailer Flipkart aims to double the total value of goods it sells to $8 billion in 2015, two people with direct knowledge of the company’s plans told Reuters, as it looks to widen the gap with rivals including Snapdeal and Amazon.com’s India unit. [caption id=“attachment_2051433” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image[/caption] The company’s gross merchandise values (GMV), or the value of the goods sold on its site, is currently $4 billion. GMV is calculated on monthly average sales. Industry sources estimate Snapdeal and Amazon’s India arm currently notch up gross merchandising values of around $3 billion and $1 billion respectively. Online retailing is growing at a breakneck pace in India, which has the world’s third-largest population of Internet users even with only a fifth of its population online. Consulting firm Technopak estimates the Indian e-tailing market will be worth $32 billion in 2020, more than 10 times its value of $2.3 billion in October last year. Flipkart aims to ship one billion units a month and to serve 100 million customers by 2018 fiscal year, according to company executives who attended a recent townhall meeting. Currently the company ships around 8 million units a month. Industry sources value Flipkart, founded in 2007, at around $11 billion. Reuters