BPL, the once upon a time famous brand which pretty much died and saw its revival thanks to Flipkart partnership has now inked a deal with Amazon.
While BPL cites lack of visibility on Flipkart which resulted in declining sales, some of the other reasons also includes the growing power of Alexa and other products within Amazon ecosystem – note that these are harbinger of the new new world (Alexa/Prime) and *full stack* business has more chances to keep partners happy as opposed to just being an ecommerce player.
“To sum it up, it was Amazon’s technology and their platform and all the other benefits that you get. Things like Alexa, Prime, etc.—these are things that a lot of Indians are discovering. That was the biggest trigger for us. So, we started talking and the talks went very well. We’re talking about expanding our range—from televisions to washing machines and refrigerators to microwaves, etc… (Amazon) offers so much, so it was a given that we work together and make this happen,” BPL on why the shift to Amazon. (source).
For sure, this is a PR loss for Flipkart but then, BPL brand hasn’t really shown any tremendous growth (the peaks, I believe are a function of ads).
Here is a quick look at the brand queries.
What’s your take? A PR loss which may or may not matter beyond the small/closed startup/tech echochamber, or loss of a significant brand partner?
Of course, Amazon is going to play this to its benefit!
Ashish Sinha