Flipkart said on Thursday it is launching a wholesale marketplace to serve small and medium-sized businesses and neighborhood stores in India, entering an increasingly crowded space that has attracted several players including India’s richest man, Lightspeed-backed Udaan, Amazon, and Facebook in recent years.

To launch the wholesale marketplace, called Flipkart Wholesale, the e-commerce giant said it was acquiring a 100% stake in Walmart’s India business, which had limited standalone presence in the country and operated Best Price cash-and-carry business that runs 28 stores across the country and has amassed more than 1.5 million members.

Flipkart did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition. Current Indian laws restrict Walmart from operating supercenters or selling its own inventory directly to consumers in the country. Earlier this month, Walmart led a $1.2 billion financing round in Flipkart to increase its majority stake of 77% to more than 82% in the Indian firm. (Walmart acquired the majority stake in Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018.)

Flipkart Wholesale, which will become operational next month, will use the e-commerce giant’s existing vast supply chain infrastructure and offer an “exhaustive” range of products and merchandise, as well …read more

Source: Tech Crunch