Flipkart Black Membership Programme Launched in India With One-Year YouTube Premium Subscription

Flipkart Black was launched in India on Monday as a new subscription programme from the e-commerce platform. It will compete with the similarly-priced Amazon Prime membership and offers several new benefits, including early access to sale events, exclusive discounts, and priority customer support. The company already has a subscription programme called Flipkart VIP, as well as a Flipkart loyalty programme called Flipkart Plus, which has two tiers: Silver and Gold. However, Flipkart Black is a more premium subscription offering.

Flipkart Black Price and Benefits Compared With Flipkart VIP, Flipkart Plus

According to details shared by the e-commerce platform, a Flipkart Black membership costs Rs. 1,499 per year. It is currently priced at Rs. 990 as part of a limited-time offer. On the other hand, a Flipkart VIP membership costs Rs. 799 per year, making Black a premium membership programme, at almost double the price. The e-commerce platform also has a loyalty programme, Flipkart Plus, which has two tiers. Flipkart Plus Silver is activated once a user has placed 10 orders within a year, and Plus Gold after 20.

The Flipkart Black subscription will offer 5 percent SuperCoins cashback of up to Rs. 100 on every order on Flipkart and Flipkart Minutes, its quick-commerce platform. Members can also earn up to 800 SuperCoins every month. It also provides an additional discount of 5 percent on every order of up to Rs. 1,000 for SuperCoins transactions. SuperCoins is Flipkart's reward currency, with a rupee-equivalent value. For example, if a user has 50 SuperCoins, they can claim a cashback or a discount of Rs. 50 on a particular order.

The highlight of the Flipkart Black subscription is that its cost includes an annual YouTube Premium subscription, which offers an ad-free viewing experience. This seems to be the most value for money offer, as the annual subscription of YouTube Premium itself costs Rs. 1,490. Valid for a year, this would be a non-transferable subscription, which can only be linked to one YouTube account.

Meanwhile, Flipkart Black deals, will provide exclusive discounts on “premium” gadgets from different brands. Black subscribers will also get early access to sales, cashback offers, 24×7 priority customer support, along with flight cancellation and rescheduling on Cleartrip at Re. 1. It is important to note that once a customer has paid for the subscription, they cannot cancel it, and the fee is non-refundable.

Flipkart Black seems to be an attempt by the company to compete with Amazon's Prime subscription, which costs Rs. 1,499 per year. While the Flipkart VIP plan goes head-to-head with Amazon's Prime Lite plan. With Amazon Prime, members get early access to sales, along with access to the US-based company's video streaming service, Prime Video. Since Amazon has started showing ads on Prime Video, YouTube Premium could be a good alternative for many.