Amazon extends ad platform to external brands, Flipkart gets cash infusion ahead of festive season

Ecommerce major Amazon has extended its digital ad-platform to external advertisers and brands.

Amazon India’s consumer-facing ecommerce site is now displaying advertisements by brands that are not sellers on its platform.

At the time of filing this report, TechCircle was able to see an advertisement by Maruti Suzuki displaying its latest offers. A click on the advertisement redirects users to the automobile major’s website.

This is the first such move by Seattle-headquartered Amazon, which had earlier reserved this only for sellers and brands on its platform, and that too in the form of promoted or sponsored listings. 

Email queries sent to Amazon seeking more information on the development did not elicit a response at the time of publishing this report.

The ecommerce giant has been testing the new strategy since June, The Economic Times had earlier reported. 

Amazon’s ad campaign is marginally expensive than Google and Facebook but cheaper than LinkedIn.

The move also means that Amazon is trying to move into space currently dominated by internet giants Facebook and Google. 

Amazon’s new service comes ahead of its annual flagship sale event, the Great Indian Festival, which typically kicks in during the second week of October every year. 

The sale will likely be launched during the last week of this month to coincide around the same time as Flipkart’s annual flagship sales event.

Flipkart India, the wholesale cash-and-carry arm of Walmart-owned Flipkart, received $225.57 million infusion ahead of its annual flagship sales event.

Flipkart India received the funding last month from its Singapore-based parent entity Flipkart, according to the company’s regulatory filings. 

As a standalone entity, the infusion values Flipkart India roughly at around $4.3 billion, as per rough estimates by TechCircle.

In January this year, the company received a $200 million infusion, marking the latest round the second such during this year.

Email queries sent to Flipkart seeking more information on infusion did not elicit a response at the time of filing this report.

The infusion from the parent company comes weeks ahead of Flipkart’s 2019 edition of its annual flagship sales event Big Billion Days.

The five-day sale is expected to start during the last week of September and extend into the first week of October. 

Subsidiaries of Flipkart and Amazon India receive fund infusions from their respective parent entities around this time of the year. The capital is used to bolster the companies’ war chest for the flagship sales edition.

Every year, Amazon and Flipkart indulge in a jousting game where both the companies claim leadership over sales numbers and market share grab of the total online festive season sales. 

Amazon and Flipkart reportedly clock sales worth several months during their annual flagship sale events.

Last year, both the ecommerce majors collectively clocked sales worth $2.10 billion, a 64% rise from $1.4 billion registered in 2017, as per an estimate by market research firm Redseer Consulting.