Flipkart acquires Appiterate. Is it readying for ‘mobile only’ operation?

Acquisition in eCommerce sector is the trend these days. As India’s eCommerce is in its maturation period, there are two things happening- acquisition and funding. Soon after Snapdeal acquiring mobile recharge platform Freecharge, rival Flipkart has announced the acquisition of Appiterate, a mobile engagement and marketing automation company based out of Delhi.

Strategically operating Appiterate targets consumers and increases sales of eCommerce by using push notifications and inapp messages.
Nishant Verman, Senior Director, Corporate Development-Flipkart told The Economic Times, "Their innovative platform and tech team will bring deep mobile capabilities to the table which is a key focus area for Flipkart."

As per a news report by the ET, Appiterate, which started out as a testing platform for mobile apps had raised more than $500,000 from SAIF Partners & angel investors, including former Facebook VP of Engineering & Products, Greg Badros and LimeRoad CTO Prashant Malik in 2014.

The Appiterate team will join Flipkart, Tanuj Mendiratta, co-founder and CEO, Appiterate has confirmed. Appiterate's mobile marketing automation platform will be integrated into Flipkart's mobile app for better targeting.

Flipkart has also said in the near future, it will become a mobile only company. eCommerce firms in India have been increasingly focussing on pushing their mobile app. Online travel company Cleartrip, for instance, said on Wednesday that over 53% of its traffic now comes from the mobile. A majority of customers for Amazon, Snapdeal and Paytm are also mobile.

(Image: india times)