Flipkart Dominates Indian Mobile Commerce

In today’s globalized economy, it’s hard to maintain regional supremacy in any industry for long, but in the booming growth market that is mobile commerce in India, one company is seeing its competitors fade into the dust.

The Economic Times reported that data from SimilarWeb, a London-based Web analytics firm, indicated that Flipkart is now firmly in the driver’s seat when it comes to market share for mobile commerce activity. According to Dec. 2015 data, Flipkart now accounts for 47 percent of all visits to mobile shopping apps.

While this doesn’t mean that the race for mobile commerce supremacy in India is over, it does put Flipkart on solid footing. Its next closest competitor — fashion retailer Myntra — counts just 16 percent of all mobile commerce site visits. Following Myntra is nominal retail giant Amazon at 15.86 percent, with Snapdeal’s 13.84 percent share bringing up the rear.

The news of its market strength even has some at Flipkart thinking about how to parlay this current success into long-term growth and viability. Speaking at a startup conference in New Delhi, Flipkart Cofounder Sachin Bansal explained that while it might be a little premature, putting Flipkart out on the public trading block could make sense as a next move down the line.

“Indian markets are not yet ready for a large Internet company listing, but we would absolutely love to list here when the time comes,” Bansal said, as quoted by ET.
While Flipkart might be content to wait around for Indian investors to grow accustomed to an Internet company’s often enormous IPO, the retailer doesn’t have all the time in the world, especially as Amazon sits almost paradoxically in a distant third place in India.