Flikpart’s Shopsy app to digitally enable entrepreneurs, small businesses

“Budding entrepreneurs can now set up their business as long as they have access to a network of people that trust them, without the hassle of investment, inventory or logistics management,” Flikpart said.

Flipkart is tapping into the growing social commerce space with the launch of Shopsy, an app that enables individual entrepreneurs and small businesses to foray into online commerce. The strategy is to reach more consumers by leveraging the contact base of subscribers of the service.

Shopsy users will be able to share catalogues of products offered by Flipkart sellers with their network of contacts through social media platforms and messaging apps. As many as 15 crore items across segments ranging from fashion to electronics will be available on the app, Flipkart said in a statement.

Registered users of Shopsy can place orders on behalf of their potential customers and earn commissions on the transactions. The commission percentage will vary depending on the category of products.

“Budding entrepreneurs can now set up their business as long as they have access to a network of people that trust them, without the hassle of investment, inventory or logistics management,” Flikpart said. The company aims to digitally enable over 25 million entrepreneurs through the service.

Social commerce is emerging as a new model for businesses to transact. A deluge of cheap smartphones and affordable data prices make it easy for consumers to access services on the internet. WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, with a collective reach of over 400 million users, allow businesses to tap into potential customers. Where social commerce is increasingly scoring over a typical e-commerce marketplace model is that it enables product discovery and conversation with brands to happen online. It facilitates direct communication between buyers and sellers. Consumers can opt for product demos by way of videos, helping them make conscious choices.

Social commerce, which is a $1.5 billion to $2 billion market today, is estimated to be worth as much as $20 billion in just five years, and will likely hit nearly $70 billion by 2030.

Prakash Sikaria, senior vice president – growth and monetisation, Flipkart, said, “Over the last many years, Flipkart has been committed to contributing towards creating direct and indirect employment opportunities across the country. Shopsy is launched to further that vision. Entrepreneurs now will also utilise Flipkart’s catalogue, established delivery networks, and infrastructure to bring reliability and speed.”

Flipkart has been experimenting with the social commerce model. Last year, Flipkart owned independent platform 2GUD had launched 2GUD Local, a service that allows local offline stores to showcase their products to consumers through long-format videos.

Meesho and DealShare are among the main players operating in the social commerce segment. The space has been garnering a lot of investor interest of late. In April, Meesho entered the unicorn club with a valuation of $2.1 billion after SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $300 million investment in the company.