 "Flipkart set to fire up it's own DigiFlip tablet on 26 June")
New Delhi: Homegrown online marketplaceFlipKart is all set to launch tablet with its own label on 26 June.
The Bangalore-based firm, which sells its own brand ofelectronic and computer accessories like headphones, speakersand pen drives under the DigiFlip range, is expected to launchthe tablet under the same label.
While the specification details of FlipKart’s devicestill remain under the wraps, the company is hosting a blogger
event on 26 June and has sent out a cryptic invite in form ofa jar of tablets.
The move is expected to help FlipKart, which follows themix of marketplace and inventory-led model (with resellersputting up their wares for sale on the website) to boost itsmargins in the highly competitive electronics retailing space.
Interestingly, last week online retailing giant Amazonhad launched its first smartphone - Fire Phone – becoming thefirst e-commerce firm to compete in the over USD 150 billionglobal market, led by players like Apple and Samsung.
Amazon also has its Kindle range of e-Book readers.FlipKart’s move to launch a tablet is also expected to
help the e-commerce firm connect faster with its consumers.Another similarity that Flipkart shares with Amazon isits an annual membership fee-based service for its customers.
Flipkart First, which is similar to Amazon Prime premiumsubscription service in the US, aims at rewarding registeredshoppers, which the company claims are about 18 million forthe portal, as well as getting new ones on board.
Like Amazon’s ‘Firefly’, Flipkart’s tablet is expected tobe integrated with features that will enable users to complete
transactions with the firm that sells everything from apparelto household appliances to stationery within minutes.
Firefly can identify things like books, games, CDs etc bypointing camera at them. It can also capture songs or TV
programmes and gives the user options to purchase them.
With this move, FlipKart will compete with global giantslike Samsung and Apple, which are leaders in the domestic
market too.However, going by tablet sales data, the growing demandfor phablets is eating into the market share of tablets and itis yet to be seen how does Flipkart markets its device tocatch the consumer’s pulse.
According to research firm CMR, the tablet sales in Indiadeclined 17.5 per cent to 0.75 million units in January-March2014 compared to 0.9 million units in the same quarter lastyear, pulled down by higher demand for phablets (six inchsmartphones) and BIS certification compliance issues.
However, with the consolidation in the market (as manysmaller players have discontinued their products), analystsexpect sales to pick up in the quarters ahead.
PTI
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