Every business in the current market is online and provides services through digital platforms. E-commerce has become the main dominator of the market. A wide range of E-commerce businesses has started in the last few years. The E-commerce industry in India is witnessing growth and development rapidly. Some of the e-commerce platforms in India are Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Alibaba, Swiggy, Zomato, NetMeds, PharmEasy, Medlife and many others. The e-commerce industry of India was worth US$ 48.5billion in 2018, and it is being expected that the market will grow further with worth US$ 200 billion by 2026. Considering this e-commerce growth in India, one of the top e-commerce brands, Flipkart, decided to acquire SastaSundar, an e-commerce pharmacy, to avail medicines to its consumers.
Flipkart and SastaSundar
The continuous growth of the e-commerce market has also increased the competition level for the companies. To effectively sustain the marketplace in this competitive market and derive competitive advantages, top e-commerce companies are establishing strategic partnerships and acquisitions with other brands for making as much profit as possible. For instance, Amazon India started to provide medicines in the Indian market in the last year, considering the high demand for medicine in the market, specifically through online platforms. Similarly, the biggest online retailer in India, Reliance Retail, acquired the parent company of Netmeds pharmacy last year.
Therefore, to compete with the most competitive rivals, Flipkart decided to acquire e-commerce pharmacy startup SastaSundar to enter the e-commerce healthcare segment in the Indian market. Flipkart disclosed that it had acquired most of the share of SastaSundar without stating the exact size of the share. The value of this eight-year-old e-commerce pharmacy, SastaSundar, valued 125 million in 2019 and successfully raised $48.2 million. Flipkart stated that this segment of Flipkart will be known as Flipkart Health+. Consumers will be able to purchase required medicines through this platform at quite an affordable price within a very short time.
The senior vice president and head of Corporate Development at Flipkart, Ravi Iyer, has stated that the consumer internet ecosystem in India is growing very fast as customers identify the convenience and opportunities provided by digital adoption. With this growing awareness regarding the online platform and the increasing demand, precisely due to the pandemic, there is a colossal opportunity underlying for the e-commerce platforms, specifically associated with medicine and healthcare services. He further added that the company is excited to enter the e-commerce medicine platform in the Indian market through SastaSundar. This acquisition aims to provide the consumers’ healthcare services and medicines at an affordable price range with the best quality services. Additionally, it can be hoped that from this acquisition between Flipkart and SastaSundar, both companies will grow and transform in the current competitive market.
Also Read: How to Sell on Flipkart – Follow a Few Steps to Get Started
