Walmart’s Flipkart posts 32% jump in FY20 marketplace revenues amid widening losses, expenses

Flipkart Internet — the marketplace arm of Walmart-owned e-commerce company Flipkart – has reported a 32 per cent jump in revenues along with a 19 per cent increase in its net losses as well for FY20 from FY19.  Amazon’s rival posted Rs 6,317.7 crore in revenues in FY20 up from Rs 4,803.9 crore in FY19. The losses for the marketplace stood at Rs 1,936.6 crore vis-à-vis Rs 1,624.4 crore during the said period, according to the regulatory filings sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler. The company’s total expenses also increased 28 per cent for FY20 to Rs 8,254 crore from Rs 6,428 crore in FY19.

However, the growth rate in revenue for FY19-20 has declined as the jump in FY18-19 revenue was 57 per cent. Flipkart Internet’s FY18 revenue was Rs 3060.2 crore. Nonetheless, the growth rate in losses contracted. Rs 1,159.4 crore FY18 losses had ballooned by 40 per cent in FY19 vis-vis 19 per cent in FY19-20. Similarly, the growth rate in expenses also shrunk from 57 per cent in FY18-19. Flipkart’s arch-rival Amazon’s marketplace arm — Amazon Seller Services had reduced losses 9.5 per cent to Rs 5,685 crore for FY19 from Rs 6,287.9 crore in FY18. Its revenues, however, grew 55 per cent to Rs 7,778 crore in FY19.

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Among key initiatives taken by Flipkart in FY20, which might have helped it ramp up the marketplace revenues, were the launch of an audio-based navigation feature called Flipkart Saathi in Hindi and English languages on its app to help first-time e-commerce users navigate through the app to shop online, particularly, Tier-II and III cities, and rural India. The company had also launched its credit card in partnership with Axis Bank and Mastercard to boost cashless payments by giving its customers access to credit. Moreover, the festive sales of 2019 saw an over 21 per cent increase in online gross merchandise value from around Rs 29,000 crore in the 2018 festive season to around Rs 35,000 crore in 2019.

The company had recently reported financials for its wholesale arm Flipkart India Private Limited with a 12 per cent increase in its FY20 revenues to Rs 34,610 crore from Rs 30,931 crore in the last financial year. Its losses, on the other hand, had decreased 18 per cent to Rs 3,150 crore in FY20 from Rs 3,835 crore in FY19 while expenses saw a marginal increase of 8.6 per cent to Rs 37,760 crore from Rs 34,766 crore during the said period.