Flipkart was launched in 2007 with an initial capital of Rs. 4 lakhs and focused on selling books online. It has since expanded into various product categories. Flipkart prides itself on its customer-centric approach through services like cash on delivery and free shipping. It has grown to become one of the largest online retailers in India through strategic acquisitions and a focus on logistics and distribution. However, Flipkart's Big Billion Day sale in 2014 was marred by technical glitches, pricing issues, and delivery delays that angered many customers. Flipkart must improve its technical capabilities and order fulfillment processes to avoid such problems and strengthen its position going forward.

1. CASE STUDY ON FLIPKART
Flip kart went live in 2007 with the initial capital of Rs.4 lakhs. The objective was to make books
easily available to anyone who had internet access. Today, they include various categories such
as movies, music, games, mobile, cameras, computers, health care and personal products, home
appliances and electronics, stationery, perfumes, toys, apparels, shoes. Be it there path breaking
services like cash on delivery, a 30 day replacement policy, EMI options, free shipping and off
course the great prices that they offer, everything they do revolves around their obsession with
providing their customers a memorable online shopping experience.
Flip kart have a very dedicated delivery partners who work around the clock to personally make
sure the packages reach on time. So it’s no surprise that they are a favorite online shopping
destination. Initially, flipkart used a word of mouth marketing to popularize their company. A
fewer months later, the company sold its first book on flipkart.com-“John Woods Living

2. Microsoft to the World”. As per Alexa traffic ranking, flipkart is on a rank of 170 and as per
Google ranking its stand at 6th position among the top ten Indian websites and has been credited
with being India’s largest online book seller with over 170 million titles on offer.
The series of acquisitions includes:
• 2010- weREAD
• 2011- MIME360
• 2011- CHAKPAK.COM
• 2012- LETSBUY.COM
• 2014- MYNTRA.COM
The procurement model is at the heart of flipkarts success, as most delays or troubles occur in
this part of business. Flipkart employed procurement based on demand. It is the robust logistics
at flipkart that sets it apart from other e- commerce sites and amazingly well oiled warehousing
and delivery system.
The process of attracting a prospective customer to view the site and try to make sure people
purchases the goods is called the Order Lifecycle. Attracting users to site through family, friends,
search engine optimization, search engine marketing, word of mouth, brand building enables
selection to the consumer by making it easy to find and discover to the most obvious options.
Flipkart provide convenient payment options online, like credit card, net banking, debit card,
wire transfer, phone banking and cash on delivery. They confirm the payment. There is a
supplier selection team to get the goods in Just in Time and there is an inventory prediction,
planning, and quality checks. Pack the item with tamper proof, weather proof, breakage proof,
select courier and hand over the courier. Get tracking id and communicate to the customer.
Follow up for timely delivery. Take care of returns.
The best thing they did was that they understood that to be successful in India, you need to be the
god of distribution. In India, it’s amazing logistics that prove to be the gain changer and that’s
exactly what the folks at flipkart have done.

3. Flipkart launched “big billion day” sale on 6th October 2014 with exciting offers. Flipkart
indicated that it sold Rs. 600Crore worth of goods within 10 hours of starting its sale. But, on the
day things went awry and customers were left high and dry due to improper pricing, technical
glitches, slow response on website. Customers didn’t receive their order details despite paying
for product and 1 in 600 visitors managed to shop. Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Flipkart’s
founders, wrote a letter to their customers personally apologizing for the difficulties they faced
during Monday’s sale.
Customers should also learn that all advertising discount may not be their piece of cake, they had
to save time by registering and using wallets, the deal on the offer may not be the best. They
should be aware about replacement or exchange policy and other promotions. It would be better
to use cash on delivery option.
The sale angered Samsung, Sony and other tech giants over ‘rock bottom prices’. Companies
have suspended fresh sales and it is facing government scrutiny, complaints from traders.
Enforcement Directorate is inquiring into whether the Company has flouted any retail rules
during its massive discount sale held. Flipkart did not specifically comment on the matter but
said the company was in “complete compliance with the laws of the land and will cooperate with
authorities when required”.
Q1. What are the success mantras of flipkart?
Q2. What went wrong on big billion day? According to you how flipkart should have managed
‘the Big Billion Day’.
Q3. What would be the position of flipkart in upcoming days compared to their past? How they
would overcome in future?