Flipkart group said it has bought out Yaantra, an electronics refurbishment platform, to strengthen its recommerce business and improve after-sale offerings for its customers in the smartphones segment.
The acquisition is expected to be in the range of $40-50 million, in what is cash-cum-stock deal, according to sources aware of the matter. There are some additional rewards which will come forth for the management based on the fulfilment of milestones over a period of time.
With the acquisition of Yaantra, Flipkart said it will give the company greater access to affordable refurbished smartphones.
Recommerce or reverse commerce is the selling of previously owned and used products
Flipkart is among the largest online retail site for selling electronics and smartphones. The company had introduced a phone exchange feature, whereby customers can exchange their old smartphone and avail themselves a discount to buy new phones.
In a recent interview with ET, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Flipkart group CEO, had said, that the company will look to consolidate on its bets across hyperlocal, Shopsy and grocery in 2022 after a busy last year of investments. . The ecommerce major is estimated to have spent around $400-500 million on M&As over the last 12-18 months as it bought out travel booking site Cleartrip, online pharmacy SastaSundar and most recently invested along with Walmart $145 million into Ninjacart, a supply chain startup for fresh produce.
“On the device quality assessment side, we have built a lot of capabilities and it is the backbone for building the refurbished business,” said Jayant Jha, co-founder of Yaantra to ET, on how Yaantra acquisition will help Flipkart. “We have also built a network of 35,000 retailers in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, which are growth drivers.”
The Yaantra team will report to Prakash Sikaria, senior vice-president and head of Flipkart’s growth charter.
“India is one of the fastest-growing markets for electronic goods, with smartphones being one of the most in-demand,” said Sikaria. “There is a large set of consumers who aspire to own branded devices, but prices are sometimes prohibitive. This is where Yaantra fits in perfectly. Their recommerce value chain and refurbishment capability will allow Flipkart to create a very meaningful recommerce offering.”
Source: Economic Times