In a move to improve the quality of its marketplace, Flipkart has
blacklisted about 40 sellers, through its mystery shopping network of 60
employees, which was established this month.
"The identified sellers were selling either fake products, defaulting on deliveries or stocking out rivals by buying out and then returning their products," said Manish Maheshwari, VP and head of seller ecosystem at Flipkart. The company has 60,000 sellers on the platform, with Delhi constituting about 20,000 sellers alone followed by cities such as Surat, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
The company has designed computer algorithms to catch fraudulent sellers, who often inflate maximum retail prices and then give a discount. "Whenever a product image is uploaded with an inflated MRP, our inbuilt image search algorithms can detect whether MRP recorded in database with the uploaded MRP varies a lot. If it does, an alert is sounded against the seller," said Maheshwari.
In its recently concluded Big Billion Sale this month, Flipkart sold goods worth Rs 1,800 crore in five day sale, compared to Rs 600 crore worth of goods sold during last year's sale, which lasted only a day.
The company aims to achieve a bonafide base of 1-lakh sellers by December end.
Besides selling fakes, online sellers have also started resorting to malpractices such as buying out rivals, or buying their own inventory online, in case they get cash back from websites. "We don't offer cashbacks. But we have seen some sellers stock out rivals by just ordering and then returning their goods," Maheshwari said.
Stocking out a rival seller will decrease its online rating. It may also help a spurious seller manipulate prices online by killing com petition for that product. Flipkart's first effort is to warn such sellers and then ban if they don't pay heed. "When an employee identifies to a fake product or nongenuine seller, he or she gets a cash award in the form of a voucher per identification," Maheshwari said, adding that about 60 people at Flipkart have signed up voluntarily for mystery shopping.
In recent past, buyers from websites such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Paytm have pointed fake products being supplied by a few sellers. These products range from copied versions of branded headphones, shoes, cosmetics, bags, USB drives and watches. In a recent case, a Mumbai-based buyer from Flipkart received fake Lakme cosmetics, while a shopper from Paytm re ceived stone tiles in place of a Lenovo laptop in the shipment.
To control the menace, Flipkart has made it mandatory that only authorized resellers can sell branded goods such as appliances and electronics, to check grey-market pricing. "A laptop or mobile phone can only be sold by authorized resellers of that brand," Maheshwari added. "For sellers who do not comply with code of conduct and policies, we take measures, as needed, like penalties, impact on seller ratings and even delisting in certain extreme cases," said Vishal Chadha, senior VP market development at Snapdeal.
"The identified sellers were selling either fake products, defaulting on deliveries or stocking out rivals by buying out and then returning their products," said Manish Maheshwari, VP and head of seller ecosystem at Flipkart. The company has 60,000 sellers on the platform, with Delhi constituting about 20,000 sellers alone followed by cities such as Surat, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
The company has designed computer algorithms to catch fraudulent sellers, who often inflate maximum retail prices and then give a discount. "Whenever a product image is uploaded with an inflated MRP, our inbuilt image search algorithms can detect whether MRP recorded in database with the uploaded MRP varies a lot. If it does, an alert is sounded against the seller," said Maheshwari.
In its recently concluded Big Billion Sale this month, Flipkart sold goods worth Rs 1,800 crore in five day sale, compared to Rs 600 crore worth of goods sold during last year's sale, which lasted only a day.
The company aims to achieve a bonafide base of 1-lakh sellers by December end.
Besides selling fakes, online sellers have also started resorting to malpractices such as buying out rivals, or buying their own inventory online, in case they get cash back from websites. "We don't offer cashbacks. But we have seen some sellers stock out rivals by just ordering and then returning their goods," Maheshwari said.
Stocking out a rival seller will decrease its online rating. It may also help a spurious seller manipulate prices online by killing com petition for that product. Flipkart's first effort is to warn such sellers and then ban if they don't pay heed. "When an employee identifies to a fake product or nongenuine seller, he or she gets a cash award in the form of a voucher per identification," Maheshwari said, adding that about 60 people at Flipkart have signed up voluntarily for mystery shopping.
In recent past, buyers from websites such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Paytm have pointed fake products being supplied by a few sellers. These products range from copied versions of branded headphones, shoes, cosmetics, bags, USB drives and watches. In a recent case, a Mumbai-based buyer from Flipkart received fake Lakme cosmetics, while a shopper from Paytm re ceived stone tiles in place of a Lenovo laptop in the shipment.
To control the menace, Flipkart has made it mandatory that only authorized resellers can sell branded goods such as appliances and electronics, to check grey-market pricing. "A laptop or mobile phone can only be sold by authorized resellers of that brand," Maheshwari added. "For sellers who do not comply with code of conduct and policies, we take measures, as needed, like penalties, impact on seller ratings and even delisting in certain extreme cases," said Vishal Chadha, senior VP market development at Snapdeal.
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