Bengaluru, Oct 1 (UNI) Flipkart has scaled up its industry-first Smart Upgrade and Product Exchange programme across several new categories for consumers, the company said on Friday.

This step has been taken in view of the upcoming festive season and the Big Billion Days.

The programme, which is designed by India's homegrown e-commerce marketplace, offers easy upgrade and affordability options to customers.

Last year, during the Big Billion Days, there was a 50 per cent increase in people availing product exchange for mobiles.

With the scale-up of these two programmes, millions of customers will now be able to upgrade and purchase high ticket products in an affordable manner.

The programmes that initially started with mobiles and laptops will be available under several other categories, including TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and tablets.

Small home appliances such as fans, mixer grinders, and water purifiers are also being added under the product exchange programme, allowing customers to get value for old electronic items while upgrading to newer products in a first for this segment.

Flipkart's Ranjith Boyanapalli said the company pioneered the Smart Upgrade and Product Exchange last year and received an encouraging response.

Now, it is expanding the offerings this year to make it more widely accessible to its customer base, including those who are new-to-credit, he said.

The Flipkart Smart Upgrade plan allows customers to upgrade their smartphones, electronic and home appliances so that prices are not a deterrent in their decisions regarding purchases and aspirations.

Under the plan, customers can purchase a new appliance and have to pay only 70-75 percent of the price of the chosen product and select a payment tenure during the initial purchase.

They can keep the product by paying the remaining amount at the end of the tenure or upgrade to another product by exchanging for a better spec product in an affordable and smart way.

Several brands, including Mi, Whirlpool and IFB, are a part of this programme to enable a seamless and affordable upgrade for customers.

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