Flipkart partners Asus for exclusive launches, eyes 40% phone market share

Home-grown e-commerce portal Flipkart on April 17 announced a strategic partnership with Taiwanese electronics major Asus in a bid to capture at least a 40 per cent share of the domestic handset market by 2020. The e-commerce portal also announced the launch date for the Zenfone Max Pro M1, which would be the first Flipkart-exclusive smartphone to launch under the new partnership on April 23.

At an event held in New Delhi, the company’s vice-president for mobile and large appliance, Ajay Veer Yadav, said the e-commerce space had plans to contribute significantly to adding the next 100 million smartphones users. He claimed, out of every 100 smartphones sold in India, 25 were sold by Flipkart, and the company aimed to increase this share to 40 per cent of the overall Indian smartphone market by the year 2020. 

The company’s partnership with Asus is the first step towards achieving the vision of a 40 per cent market share by 2020. Under the partnership, Flipkart becomes the premium sales partner for Asus smartphones. Both companies would also work together in understanding consumer demand to roll out smartphones built specifically for Indian consumers.

"Flipkart has driven the adoption of smartphones in India, and grown the market, through innovations and a deep sense of knowing what consumers want. With this partnership with Asus, we're multiplying those efforts by collaborating to leverage our individual strengths -- data-driven research & insights, and technological prowess -- to build smartphones truly customised for India. Asus is a trusted brand worldwide with a 3 decade global legacy in technology and innovation. Ultimately, we want the latest smartphone technology to be affordable and accessible to everyone, but, while we're at it, we also want to ensure Indian consumers get smartphones with features they most want,” said Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

“As a core pillar of our consumer-centric strategy in India, we see tremendous opportunity in creating products and services that address India’s special market needs. With Flipkart’s partnership, we aim to gain more insights about Indian consumers’ needs, which can help us develop even more suitable products for the Indian market,” said Jerry Shen, CEO, Asus.