MUMBAI: In a first of its kind partnership, e-commerce company Flipkart has inked a deal with Viacom18 for licensing three major international brands in India. 

In a bid to offer Indian consumers authentic and branded merchandise, the Flipkart - Viacom18 collaboration will see the licensing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob Squarepants and Peanuts for sellers in India.

According to Flipkart, this partnership provides a superior analytics system and tight control to help international brand kick-start their operations in India. Global brands are constantly looking to partner with the most competent manufacturers across categories, and Flipkart aims to become the licensing platform that connects these brands to the most deserving sellers in India.

Additionally, the company has expertise across more than 70 product verticals, which will allow it to offer these brands in a more innovative approach towards merchandising and sales.

With this, sellers will have the opportunity to create a better experience for buyers, by assuring them quality of authentic products and differentiating themselves from the clutter on the marketplace.

Flipkart vice president and head – seller ecosystem Manish Maheshwari said, “Through this online licensing concept, we want to simply this process by connecting brands with the top performing sellers on our platform, giving the brands the power to keep a track on the product sales as well as the quality.”

“It gives us great pride to introduce a concept like this for the first time in India where a global player can connect with Flipkart and have the product licensed across any number of sellers they want,” he added.

Flipkart is also looking to expand and extend its existing ecosystem by adding licensors on one side and high-quality sellers that are eligible to be licensees on the other side.