Flipkart plays big on fitness, sportswear as demand grows in tier-2 cities

The e-commerce platform is banking on an increasing sports and fitness clientele to make itself relevant across new towns

For the longest time sports and fitness were niche categories for retailers. Every town and city had its trusted old sports goods store which would stock everything from dumb bells, bicycles, cricket bats to wrist bands, swimming trunks and treadmills. These often dingy and overcrowded stores did not take pride of place in the festive season and certainly did not attract customers out for leisure shopping.

In 2019, however, fitness is the need of the hour. Everyone from apparel and food retailers to insurance companies and gadget manufacturers are monetising this healthy trend. Sports, as a category, has moved beyond serious league games to leisure. And e-commerce platforms are making the most of discount hunting fitness enthusiasts.

“We have been seeing,  especially over the last 12-18 months, that sports as a fashion category has evolved a lot. Since the spike in interest is so high and sports is a significant share of the business so we made sports fashion a separate vertical with focus on aptly priced products for Tier 2 and 3 markets. Metros are doing better on niche sports categories like badminton and tennis for leisure and even marathon runners,” said Dev Iyer, V-P, Flipkart Fashion. The company is also partnering with established sports apparel brands to offer affordable clothing options.

Like many other product categories, Flipkart has introduced a curated in-house label called Adrenex to meet the pricing-quality requirements for affordable gym and fitness equipment with plans to extend it to footwear and apparels soon. As a platform, close to 70 per cent of Flipkart’s business comes from Tier 2 and beyond cities and towns. This is particularly crucial for the sports and fitness category, which is seeing a growing appetite in Bharat.

Flipkart’s objective is to make sports and fitness products more accessible to consumers across Bharat, in partnership with leading brands and sellers, the company said. And the company has tracked the nature of the purchases in the category to come up with a plan to expand its footprint while creating a common brand appeal that transcends the urban-semi-urban divide.

“Access and reach are a big issue for consumers in smaller cities if they want to find products for anything other than cricket or badminton. Current shopping trends predict that customers will keep a lookout for discounts on these items during the upcoming festive sales as they are keen about fitness,” said Nishit Garg, vice-president of books, general merchandise and home at Flipkart.

In the last two years, more than half the growth in sales of sporting goods has come from Tier 3 customers in the age group of 20-35 he added. 

While urban consumers go for high-end gym equipment, the Bharat customer seeks more basics like sport specific tools.

Also buying in the category throws up two broad trends. They are usually occasion based purchases, when people register for marathons, plan treks, begin learning a new sport, join a gym and so on. And the other follows trend-based purchases. According to the company, there is a shift in the use of sports performance wearas it moves into lifestyle wear (athleisure).

Flipkart is working with sellers from diversified sectors on the platform. This extends to partnerships with fitness subscription platforms such as Curefit to cross-sell items based on specific user feedback.