Flipkart marketing strategy

FLIPKART – 360o MARKETING STRATEGY
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT PROJECT 2015
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN TRADE, NEW DELHI

Overview
Group 8 International Marketing Management (2015-17)

Overview (1/9)
Flipkart’s Story
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
18
• Flipkart is an online shopping destination for India founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal
and Binny Bansal.
• Flipkart offers over 20 million products across 70+ categories.
• Flipkart, started by a team of 2 is currently 20000 people strong and has 26 million
registered users clocking over 8 million daily visits.
• Flipkart's technology has enabled them to deliver 5 million shipments per month.

Overview (2/9)
E-Commerce as a Platform
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Major Stakeholders
• Indian ecommerce market was pegged $13.6 billion last year, and by the time 2015 ends, it will
cross $16 billion mark.
• Ecommerce transactions grew by 53% last year, and 61% of all transactions.
• Most of the e-retail companies are operating in huge losses currently to gain market share mainly
due to huge discounts and flash sales.
• Angel investors are pumping huge sums of money into this industry but the investments are
mostly into few companies only.
• In India, Cash on delivery is the most preferred payment method, accumulating 75% of the e-retail
activities
Overview of the Industry

Overview (3/9)
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Retail e-commerce sales in India from 2012 to 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars)
18
20
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Over the last two decades, rising internet and mobile phone
penetration has changed the way we communicate and do
business. e-Commerce at present, heavily leaning on the internet
and mobile phone revolution to fundamentally alter the way
businesses reach their customers
E-commerce logistics : Shift from regular logistics
The strong emergence of e-commerce has placed an enormous
pressure on the supporting logistics functions.
The proposition of e-commerce to the customer in offering has
provided an almost infinite variety of choices spread over enormous
geographical area.

Overview (4/9)
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
18
• Content Localisation
• Expansion beyond Metros
• Mobile Commerce
• Logistics and Warehouse Focus
• Growth in Debit Card Usage
Growth Drivers
• Building a loyal customer base
• Last Mile Delivery
• Managing Warehouse Location
• Brands pulling out of E-Commerce
• Security Issues
Key Challenges

Overview (5/9)
Customer Management Systems
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
18
Flipkart’s CMS: A/B Testing
A standard A/B testing framework has three components -
1. The object of experiments. This can be different user experiences, different pricing or
different shipping methods.
2. The method of experiments. How the A or B buckets are assigned is up to the
framework. It might be based on randomization, or based on some data gathered
before the experiment.
3. The data collector. Gathers the data which will be used for concluding the
experiment. In a typical e-Commerce you will want to look at data such as visits,
product views, click through rates and order conversions.
“At Flipkart we use our own A/B testing framework wherein we can run different versions of the
website for different users. The method is generally randomization. For data gathering, we have
dashboards which show logs and metrics collected by our frameworks as well as an external tool
called Omniture.”

Overview (6/9)
Outsourcing Strategy
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
18
When a company has too many people on its payroll, it gets difficult to handle from the compliance
perspective. For example, PF, insurance, gratuity, etc., takes a lot of effort from the HR perspective.
Businesswise, too, such shifting out of personnel offers several advantages. Once employees are on an
outsourced payroll, they don't appear in the books of the company and, in turn, the revenue-per-
employee is much higher, which is an important metric for companies.
"Flipkart's decision to outsource few roles is a strategic move which will help us scale faster and
also grow the partner ecosystem around us," a company spokesman had said.
The company has made several strategic hires in recent months including from Silicon Valley, to build
new capabilities and establish its dominance in a sector fast overcrowding: Former Google product head
Punit Soni to head the products division under its commerce platform; former McKinsey director Saikiran
Krishnamurthy as the chief operating officer of its commerce division; former head of engineering at
Google, Peeyush Ranjan, as senior vice president.
Outsourcing and Hiring

Overview (7/9)
Flipkart’s White Label Strategy and its Analysis
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
18
Reasons for Failure
DigiFlip
• Flipkart has forayed into the tablet market with the
launch of its own DigiFlip Pro XT712 tablet
which was launched in 2012. The Digiflip Pro
XT712 was an entry-level Android tablet with 7 inch
screen, quad-core processor, dual SIM card
slots and a price tag of Rs 9,999.
• Flipkart then launched various computer accessories
under the same label.
• Hardware & Software Not Exciting Enough
• Lack of compelling services and offers from
Flipkart
• Mismatch of price and features

Overview (8/9)
Flipkart’s Strategy
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
18
Flipkart’s Acquisitions
Flipkart’s Investments

Overview (9/9)
Scope of E-commerce Industry
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
18
Next.Big.What. Will hyperlocal
businesses disrupt traditional ecommerce
• Everyday need goods
• Delivered at specified time
• speedy delivered
• location/time
• Convenient: Doorstep
• Convenient: Choice
• Delivery of bulky products
• Express Delivery,
• Economic Pricing
• Connects to neighborhood
• Express Delivery grocery stores
• Additional discounts
• Discounts on home
• Easy to browse options
• Delivery of pain point
• Curated lists shopping

Sales Promotion and
Outreach

Overview
Flipkart: ‘Kart'apulting into the future
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (1/8)
Brand
and
service
Shipping
and
delivery
Cash on
Delivery
30-day
return
policy
Warranty
and
Insurance
Circle of Focus
Right from it’s inception in 2007, Flipkart
has focused immensely on the concept
of “customer delight”. To achieve the
same, they came up with a 5-point
mantra and in the initial phase,
recklessly improved upon them.
Utilization of numerous
festive opportunities
Heavy discounts and offer
coupons
Excellent collection of
books, DVDs, movies etc.
Three-pronged approach for
pushing numbers
While the focus areas remained
constant, the initial phase also placed
heavy emphasis on pushing numbers
and getting their name all across the
boards in a sector which was yet to see
the light of day in the Indian market.

Overview
Advertising Campaigns
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (2/8)
The TVCs feature kids in adult situations (and with adult voiceovers), like a beauty parlour, a
cafe, and an office, where they discuss the benefits of buying products on Flipkart.com.
Over the years, the foundation has remained the same and the adverts have been widely
accepted and successful….No kidding. 

Overview
“Ab sirf shopping nahi, Flipkart karo”
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (3/8)
An attempt to position Flipkart as a synonym for convenience led online shopping.
The campaign not only aimed at inspiring people to shop via Flipkart, but also promoted online
shopping as a whole by talking of- why do online shopping.

Overview
Experimentation with the logo over the years
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (4/8)
The first logo of
Flipkart was designed
with curved letters and
two colors with an aim
to appear friendly as
well as to propagate
the idea of ‘flipping’
through a ‘cart’.
As the company grew
bigger, an increased
emphasis on brand
imagery was laid upon.
With the common
mass now fairly
acquainted wth the
idea of flipkart, a
single colored word
was introduced
alongwith a cart
apparently in motion
to signify speed.
The latest in the row
is a minimalistic,
sophisticated logo
with just the alphabet
“f” written on top of
a shopping bag. Also,
a smiley can be
noticed on top. The
entire idea is to give
an image of
playfulness, speed
and friendliness.

Overview
Big Billion Day 2014: An Aspiration
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (5/8)
• Before the sale even began, controversy
gathered as people noticed that the prices of
some of the products were being raised back to
the MRP instead of the actual selling price - to
better pad the size of the deal on offer.
• At approx. 2pm, next day, seller accounts of third
party vendors on Flipkart have been put as
pending i.e no more orders will be taken for the
day and products will now show the status as
'out of stock'.
• Example: On an average, a Transcend 64GB pen
drive can be purchased for Rs 2,500 w/o
discounts but Flipkart offered it at 2500 after a
95% discount on Rs. 49,999
• Verdict: A BIG FAILURE

Overview
Big Billion Days 2015(1/2): Innovative Campaign for Promotion
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (6/8)
#AchhaKiya campaign
Learning from the failure of 2014, the company left no stone unturned to make Big
Billion Days 2015 a success.
Flipkart released a series of advertisements to
promote its upcoming Big Billion Days sale,
adding that “good things come to those who
wait”.
Meanwhile….
Few of the competitors took this
opportunity to troll the campaign itself by
posting sarcastic and cheeky responses
online as well as up on the roadside
billboards.

Overview
Big Billion Days 2015(2/2): Fair Success
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (7/8)
• “Abhi Nahin toh Kabhi Nahi” : The sale gained back
its foothold.
• "India shops the most during this time of the year.
With 75 percent of traffic coming via mobile, we
expect this 'app only' sale to be the biggest
shopping event of the year” : Flipkart’s Bansal
stated/forecasted.
• Flipkart opened new fulfilment centres across the
country to guarantee efficient delivery. They also
ramped our technology and supply chain support
to meet the huge customer demand.
• Saw a business turnover of over $300 million in
GMV, which was 3X times last year with the
participation of 40,000 sellers and millions of
visitors.
• Verdict: Fair Success

Overview
Flipkart Advantage: The latest step towards increasing the outreach
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach (8/8)
Buy from third-party sellers with confidence
Understanding the advantage
30-Day Replacement Policy
Quality packing, faster delivery
Track your shipment
Flipkart Advantage is our e-commerce fulfilment service for Sellers, where products are sourced
from Sellers and we do the rest. That includes checking for quality, stocking, packing and
shipment. As a Buyer, you are assured product quality, faster delivery and hassle-free returns. All
this is backed by 24x7 customer service.

Digital Initiatives

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart has a strong digital footprint and this is mainly due to its customer-focused approach
Courtesy – Flipkart page on LinkedIn

Overview
Social Media (1/2)
Digital
Initiatives (2/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Facebook1
• Offers and
discounts, special
sales promotions
etc.
• Launch of new
products,
especially
exclusive ones
• App/website
improvements at
the user’s end.
Blog7
• Posts by various
contributing
authors regarding
the basic motives
behind purchase
of products (in-
vogue, beauty
tips etc.)
• Celebrity
exclusives on
fashion trends
Flipkart Stories5
• Stories about
how Flipkart has
impacted lives of
individual
customers
(primarily
testimonials of
heavy buyers and
loyal customers)
• Stories about
unique sellers
LinkedIn4
• Business
decisions,
participation in
conferences, new
initiatives
• Career
opportunities
(‘Why work with
Flipkart’ videos),
employee
benefits and
testimonials
Twitter2
• Informal platform
with individual
customer
testimonials,
Dubsmash videos
and contests
On the Flip side – Tech Blog6
• Information about the
features and working of
Flipkart’s tech features like
‘Ping’
• Upcoming search adaptability
features etc.
360O Social
Media
Strategy
YouTube3
• Product reviews,
advertisements
of offer days
• Short video
series giving
gifting ideas for
every occasion

Overview
Social Media (2/2)
Digital
Initiatives (3/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
5 Social Media Lessons to learn from Flipkart
Social Listening
On Flipkart, whenever they receive complaints on their online properties, they are prompt
on replying. This re-instates the belief that once the product is sold it isn’t forgotten.
Connect via social media
On Flipkart’s website, there are options to connect on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ thus
making people aware of their presence, increasing awareness, exposure, interaction.
Humor
Ads stand out with 12 year olds enacting like grownups and addressing the real concerns
around ecommerce, it seems Flipkart is creating awareness about the industry as well.
Re-marketing
Example: You viewed a certain product/category on Flipkart and left the website. The same
product or category will be seen on the right sidebar/news feed of Facebook.
Know your platform
Flipkart is fully aware of how each social media platform works and succeeds. As already
seen, they have very different approaches to managing content on each of them.

Overview
Web (1/2)
Digital
Initiatives (4/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
The Flipkart Affiliate Program
Affiliate Tools Reports Testimonials
Simple banners &
widgets, APIs for
listing Flipkart deals /
products on your
own site / app
Extensive data about
links, activity and
overall website
performance
Collection of affiliate
testimonials for
publicity of Flipkart
• Affiliates are typically sites that sell coupons or lure consumers with cash-back offers.
• They receive commission on every transaction they bring to e-commerce companies in the
form of commissions.
• Affiliates are estimated to account for about 8 per cent of e-commerce sales in India.
• Approximately 8-10% of the online marketing budget of e-tailers is spent on affiliate
engagement.

Overview
Web (2/2)
Digital
Initiatives (5/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Search Engine Optimization
Flipkart shows up in the top 5
results of Google search for
generic search strings like “buy
online”, “purchase online”,
“online shopping”, “e-
commerce” and many more,
clearly indicating a strong SEO
strategy to drive traffic to its
website
Long tail keywords effectively to cater to
more focused search strings.
Good quality content on affiliate sites
helps to grow organic links
SEO strategy focused on ROI from
purchase activity rather than traffic
A strong presence on Google+ helps get
better search result visibility
Statistics on Flipkart’s spread of website marketing strategies
Traffic from search
26.95%
Traffic from referrals
19.85%
Traffic from social
2.27%
Direct traffic
46.5%
Closest competitor
Amazon
Top referring site
MySmartPrice
Global Rank
196
Country Rank
7
Category Rank
9

Overview
Online advertising
Digital
Initiatives (6/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart uses a multi-channel approach to online advertising with a highly aggressive
stance when it comes to increasing online visibility.
Added
advantage of
conducive
search results
on Google
Advertising
through pop-
ups
maximizes
online
presence
Display ads of
recently
viewed
products that
were not
bought
Mobile
comparison
websites,
digi-blogs
drive traffic
Video ads on
social media
websites
regarding
offers/discou
nts
AdWords
Cookies
Re-marketing
Affiliates
Social Media
Most innovative ad: “Training father for Big Billion Day” in association with TVF
Link: http://madovermarketing.com/2015/10/10/flipkart-teams-up-with-tvf-to-deliver-
the-most-innovative-hilarious-sale-ad/

Overview
Flipkart on mobiles (1/2)
Digital
Initiatives (7/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
With growing number of smartphone users, Flipkart is moving to an app-focused strategy.
Multiple initiatives and campaigns are being carried out to support this and drive traffic
to apps.
Flipkart on Google Play Store®
Flipkart on App Store®
• Wide app portfolio
• Free
• Good ratings and sponsored reviews
• Regular updates
• SEO on Play Store for online shopping
• Good categorization of items on sale
• Flipkart Nearby is growing in popularity
App Highlights

Overview
Flipkart on mobiles (2/2)
Digital
Initiatives (8/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
App-only discounts
QR Code Scanning Flipkart drives traffic from its site to its app
This is in line with
Flipkart’s push
towards
smartphones, a
first in the e-
commerce
business in India
Flipkart Lite (November 2015)
What?
• Mobile site re-launched after discontinuation in March, 2015
• The new Flipkart Lite site will make use of the new notifications feature in Chrome
• Potential users can also add the Flipkart Lite page to the homescreen on Chrome in
order to access it directly without typing in the name each time
Why?
• Re-think of the app-only strategy as, with increasing width of apps on app stores,
Flipkart also competes with other apps (from IM to self-drive cars) for space on
smartphones
• Online payment on apps can get messy if the internet fails at the time of the ‘Two-factor
authentication’ process as per RBI’s guidelines (while entering OTP)
70-75% of sales is app-driven and hence its digital initiatives in this space are crucial

Overview
Digital Initiatives – RoundUp
Digital
Initiatives (9/9)
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Social Media
Facebook, LinkedIn,
Google+, YouTube, Tech
Blog, Blog, Flipkart
Stories
Web
Search Engine
Optimization, Flipkart
Affiliate Program
Online Advertising
AdWords, pop-ups, re-
marketing, affiliates,
innovative video ads
Flipkart on mobiles
App-only discounts, QR
code scanning, app-
updates, Flipkart Lite

Strategy

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Study of various E- Commerce Ventures around the world - Alibaba
Strategy of genuineity over customer centricity
• Facilitate communication and safety in the transactions
• Tie up with manufacturers to identify counterfeiting products
• Alipay to develop trust between merchants and consumers, eBay
didn't port Paypal to China a major reason for their failure their.
Order of operations , smart and dynamic STP–
• Alibaba wisely started their internet business in China by not going
after the consumer market. Most people didn't have computers or
internet in the late 90s/early 2000s.
• Also they realised that the fragmented territory and economic
disparity needed some time to level the same
Short-term pain for eventual long-term gain:
• The free site convinced Chinese merchants to use it, the design
convinced merchants and consumers, and eventually Taobao hit a
tipping point in what is essentially a winner-take-all-business. eBay
refused to cut pricing to zero claiming that a business requires a
profit. It turned out a guerrilla move to offset eBay's bigger
advertising budget.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Study of various E- Commerce Ventures around the world - Alibaba
Developed the culture of Window Shopping:
display of Taobao excites the public, Browsing the home page of Taobao
is more like window shopping.
Jack Ma had strong Chinese government support
All internet companies(eBay, Google, Facebook etc.) tried to enter in
china and none succeeded
Strong Employee base and HR policies:
Alibaba employees posted thousands of messages on internet bulletin
boards directing users to Taobao.
IPO at a time it can compete with the big players:
The IPO also gives Alibaba new cash that it can use to expand into areas
, including possibly the U.S

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Study of various E- Commerce Ventures around the world - Rakuten
Strategy of personalised service
Principle of ‘Omotenashi’- high quality and personalised service. He
says that hospitality has always been a part of Japan’s heritage and built
his company to reflect the same.
Rakuten focuses on being diverse and offers its customers a unique
shopping experience, in contrast to Amazon, they can get anything on
Rakuten, from used $70,000 four ton-trucks, Gucci handbags, digital
content (Amazon Japan doesn’t offer downloads), down to apples and
oranges directly offered by regional farmers.
Instead of emphasizing efficiency and convenience, Rakuten tries to
create a personalized, bazaar like shopping experience. Rakuten has
many PhDs who work with big data and analytics, and have a state-of-
the-art research lab. But believe that a shopkeeper’s recommendation is
fundamental.
the company is “aggressively” working to integrate Viber into Rakuten.
messaging and calling app Viber. Very similar to Ping in Flipkart.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Study of various E- Commerce Ventures around the world - Rakuten
Seller Support
The site offers its merchants a number of services to make their lives
easier (real-world seminars, a monthly merchant-only magazine,
phone support etc.). In return, Rakuten pockets fixed “virtual real
estate” fees from the 28,000+ merchants currently registered on the
site, in addition to commission payments (2.6% of each retailer’s sales
revenue).
Going International
Rakuten has been talking about going international for years now, and
they’re already testing waters in a handful of countries. About a fourth
of all items available for Japanese customers can be ordered from
selected countries through a service called Rakuten International
Shipping Services.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Study of various E- Commerce Ventures around the world - Amazon
Put the customer first
features like shopping carts, one-click buying so users did not have to
type in all their credit card information each time, email confirmations,
and post-shipping follow up.
Amazon invested billions of dollars in warehouses and systems to boost
the quality and efficiency of its order fulfilment process.
passed most of the cost savings on to consumers – taking a very slim
margin.
Latest in Technology
sometimes other people can do a better job than you at inventing the
ground-breaking technologies.
Amazon acquired Kiva for $775 million and uses it to help make
AmazonFresh a success.
when you put your mind to solving the problem facing your customer,
you should do a series of frugal experiments. AmazonFresh in 2007 in
the Medina and Mercer Island neighbourhoods of Seattle
Efficient use of big data

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Current E- Commerce Industry in India - Features
Cash on delivery (COD):
COD permitted buyers to purchase without disclosing their credit/debit
card details
COD was also instrumental in reaching out to customers in non-
metropolitan areas (tier-II and tier III cities) where most of the
customers did not have credit/debit cards
Innovative and customized services for attracting customers:
Free home delivery, hassle free return policies within 7–30 days, referral
discount, wish list, Try and Buy, tracking the consignment
Investment in distribution channel:
Improving the average turnaround time for delivering products from 4-5
days to 1–2 days, Guaranteed one day delivery, POS devices with every
field executive
Absence of human touch:
Replacement of human to human interaction with human to machine
interaction. The Rakuten philosophy missing.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Current E- Commerce Industry in India - Features
Delay in remittance of cash by logistics provider:
from an e-retailer’s perspective, this mechanism is not a great payment
mechanism for the retailers, add to it the possibility of theft , ponzi
scams run by the delivery boys
Time lag between order placed and order delivered:
the customers have to pre-plan her purchase process, in order to
accommodate the delivery process. In certain categories, for example,
grocery, customers prefer the delivery within couple of hours of placing
the order.
Short attention span of customers during online shopping:
One of the major difference between online and offline mode of
shopping is that customers often show short attention span and lack of
patience in online shopping. Customers easily navigate to the next site if
they don’t find the product they were looking for. This problem gets
further compounded by slow internet speed in many cities in India.
Expectation of lower prices in online shopping

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Current E- Commerce Industry in India –Study of Cartlene.com strategy
Acquisition and retention of customer:
For example, in India, traditionally customers have trusted their family jeweller
for purchasing jewellery made of gold and diamonds as these are high ticket
transactions. To bridge the gap of trust and creditability, one of the largest online
jewellers, caratlane.com has opened a solitaire ‘experience’ lounge. It is a ‘hybrid’
experience for the customer where she can come to a physical store and still buy
it online. In another initiative, caratlane.com asks the customers to select any 5
products from try@home catalogue which they can try at their home. This gives
the company an opportunity to build trust, increase volume and also helps the
company to up-sell and cross-sell its products.
However, in order to build trust, online retailers often end up spending
significant amount per customer. It was reported that majority of Indian online
retailing websites spend between Rs.800-1,500 to acquire a customer.
This becomes even more challenging and expensive as repeat purchase tends to
be less often the norm. Also, with growth of online retailing, there are multiple
players, often with undifferentiated offerings, who are competing for the same
set of customers. The resultant stickiness and inability to retain customer loyalty

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart Vision & Mission
The mission of Flipkart is to “provide
their customers a memorable online
shopping experience”.
By offering the widest range of products at
disruptive prices, backed by unparalleled
services to customers
The Vision of Flipkart is to become
“Amazon of India”.
This follows the winner takes all that happened
in US with Amazon
The brand space that they have chosen
for themselves, which gets manifested in
the new brand logo and film, that is the
space where they want to fuel and fulfil
the wishes of our customers. Life feels
great when wishes come true and that is
the core thought that has driven our
current brand choice.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart’s New Brand Identity
• Conceptualized and designed by Flipkart’s design team and Umbrella Design,
the new brand identity represents Flipkart’s vision of e-commerce in India by
reinstating its focus on the mobile platform
• The 3D design and contrasting colour palettes in the new logo help break the
clutter and stand out on the mobile platform.
• The core brief was to create a product that brings alive the new brand space
of fuelling and fulfilling wishes; a creative that talks to consumers across age,
gender, geographies, pop-strata and social class. Our story is not just about a
series of products; it doesn’t talk about the gardening tool, it talks about why
does a particular person wish for a particular gardening tool?
• "Flipkart wants to be perceived as a familiar and friendly brand. This
rebranding exercise is a part of the brand's vision in achieving that. The
company has chosen to retain its signature yellow colour, as it represents
qualities that Flipkart represents, like imaginative, lively, friendly and inclusive.
The font used in the logo is Riona, which is contemporary but appealing to
everybody. The shopping bag represents the freedom to choose products that
a consumer likes," explains Kalpita Bose, CEO, Umbrella Design.
• Shekhar Badve, founder-director (marketing and strategy believes that the 'F'
logo with those trail lines is the oldest way to say "we are fast." "But, it does
convey the change that they are looking at making - providing a fast
connecting experience, a fun way to buy and increasing the number of mobile
customers. So, it's a good move," he says.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart’s Mobile Only Strategy Analysis
The growth of Mobile: With mobile apps being developed by most e-commerce
websites, smartphones are increasingly replacing PCs for online shopping. In
2013, only 10% of the mobile users used smartphones, and only 5% of the e-
commerce transactions were made through a mobile device. This figure has more
than doubled, and more than 13% of all e-commerce transactions today happen
via mobile3. According to some industry players, over 50% of the orders are
being placed through mobile apps, which is not only leading to substantial
customer acquisition but also building customer loyalty for various brands.
However, most mobile transactions so far are for entertainment, such as booking
movie tickets and music downloads. This trend will change soon with more and
more merchandise being ordered online.
Enhanced Shopping experience: The experience of shopping is being enhanced
because of strong advertisement programs which have made the consumer
believe that shopping for occasions such as weddings is also a very convenient
and enriching for the customer. New concepts such sales on weekends, holidays
and festivals are attracting a lot of new customers and building customer loyalty
among existing customers. Television and social media, particularly Facebook, are
playing a proactive role in promoting eTailing through aggressive advertisements.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart’s Mobile Only Strategy Analysis
India is expected to record the highest growth in the Asia Pacific region during
2012–16.:In the coming decade, we expect the sector to be dominated by mobile
platforms, as the growth and penetration of mobiles in rural India, coupled by
data services becoming cheaper would mean a greater population exposed to e-
commerce and hence transacting with the help of Mobile money, and having
access to virtual trial rooms would take front. As foreign and domestic e-retail
majors such as Amazon and Flipkart expand their businesses aggressively, hiring
activities are expected to grow by over 30 per cent in the sector and may help
create up to 50,000 jobs in the next 2-3 years.
Push Notification in mobiles have evaluated 6 times greater response than
promotion e- mails that enter the spam folder
POS devices as mobile where payments can be made on the spot as soon as the
product is delivered for people who still have trust issues with their transactions
More business coming from smaller towns: Ecommerce is increasingly attracting
buyers from tier-2 and tier-3 cities inspite of the limited access to brands but the
sentiment of the consumer is aspirational.

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Opinions and Suggestions
Deal Aggregators:
Groupon, who has been known for its deep discounted deals on everything from restaurant
meals to shoes and watches, received an overwhelming response when it offered onions at
Rs. 9 in India which was about 80-90 percent less than the market price. the customer could
buy 1 kg of onion from Groupon website on ‘first-come-first-serve’ basis with sales limited to
3,000 kg per day
Flash Sales:
Vente-Privee, a European e-retailer, started the trend of flash sales in online medium and it
was later adopted in U.S.A by Gilt Group. Gilt, the most prominent flash sale site in US, was
used to introduce Volkswagen’s all-new 2011 Jettas. Volkswagen was the first automotive
brand to be sold through any flash sale site in the US. Volkswagen sold three of the $15,995
cars for $5,995 on Gilt. Fifty-five thousand people who missed out added their names to the
wait list and Volkswagen sent them $500 coupons to buy or lease a Jetta. Volkswagen was
able to sell 69 full-price cars as a result of the Gilt flash sale and created an e-mail list of
EBay.in offered Nokia Lumia 620 for only Rs 13,379 in its ‘One Day Flash Sale’ offer in March
2013. In another example, spicejet.com offered ‘The Big Sale’ for three days in which ‘10 lakh
seats’ were made available for an all-inclusive fare of just Rs 2013 through its website. The
offer was valid for bookings of domestic flights made during January 11 to January 13, 2013
while the customers could undertake their travel from 1st February to 30th April,2013. The
company officials claimed that it sold 7,05,000 tickets in just three days (of the promotional
fare) and the carrier managed revenue of Rs 165 crore (1 crore = 10,000,000).

Overview
Digital
Initiatives
Strategy
New Product
Innovation
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Opinions and Suggestions
Reviving 3- hour delivery:
For a short last year Flipkart has 3- hour delivery in select towns, this can provide a huge
marketing push to show its supremacy over other players in the market
Following Rakuten’s Strategy of personalising transactions:
Rakuten urges its sellers to have a write up about the sellers success story, how the product
is produced and how their product differentiates from that of its competitors. Hence creating
a personal attachment with the customers
Extend the services of Flipkart First for loyal customers:
Flipkart First( a paid membership scheme which extends loyalty benefits) is a strategy to win
the loyalty of customers in the extremely competitive e- commerce space but the strategy
must be re- directed to make Flipkart First as a reward to frequent and loyal customers than
asking them to pay for it.
Customer Review:
According to Reevoo stats, 50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in
conversion rates. 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has
user reviews. (iPerceptions, 2011).Site visitors who interact with both reviews and customer
questions and answers are 105% more likely to purchase while visiting, and spend 11% more
than visitors who don’t interact with UGC. (Bazaarvoice, Conversation Index, Q2
2011).Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted (nearly 12 times more) than
descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US internet users by
online video review site EXPO. (e-Marketer, February 2010).

New Product
Innovation

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Growth of Flipkart over the years and its inception
New Product
Innovations
(1/14)

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart Evolution
New Product
Innovations
(2/14)
Along with the items sold,
flipkart has changed its
looks and logos over the
years. Here is a lookback
at the various logos
Flipkart has used and how
it has evolved itself to
keep in touch with the
latest customer
expectations and at the
same time keeping a
coherent chain of thought
Throwback

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Growth of Flipkart over the years and its inception
New Product
Innovations
(3/14)
Online
book store
Electronics
and media
Healthcare
Fashion
industry
Why Start with Books initially ??
To emerge as
a pioneer in
book retailing
rather than
venturing
comparison
shopping
engine
Lower
transaction
size means
easy to
establish
infrastructure
Easier
Logistics and
more visibility
again allows
easy
acquiring Shipping and
handling of
books is easy
Books are still
something of a
intellectual and
leisure activity
which helps in
elite brand
building
Pioneer
Transaction
Better Shelf Size
Logistics
Brand Building

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart - Cash On Delivery
New Product
Innovations
(4/14)
WHY ??
• India is primarily a cash driven economy.
• Existing payments infrastructure in India is abysmal.
• Security around existing payments infrastructure are non-existent
• And most importantly - because customers wanted it
HOW ??
• Sell good products its amongst the largest reasons for returns in the rest of the Indian
e-commerce space (which incorrectly gets blamed on COD
• Own delivery/collections network
• Very strong reconciliation operations
• Fast deliveries
“The bottom-line is there is customer behavior that you can influence, and behavior that you cannot.
We are not here to teach India to use plastic. We are here to help them shop in the easiest possible
fashion” –Sachin Bansal
How Flipkart started and sustained the Cash-On-Delivery system !!

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – Delivery Scheme Innovations
New Product
Innovations
(5/14)
On Flipkart, both the same-day and in-a-day delivery
options come at an extra cost of Rs 140 and Rs 90 per item
purchased.
In-a-day and same day guarantee scheme Competitor Analysis
Amazon has the same options as
well, but the price points and
delivery conditions vary. Amazon’s
costs are reflected on a per order
basis, as compared to Flipkart’s per
item cost – which makes Flipkart’s
guaranteed delivery proposition
much more expensive.
Amazon offers same-day delivery
for Rs. 149, and guaranteed one-
day delivery for Rs. 99 per order. In
addition to this, Amazon also has a
two day delivery option for Rs 79
per order. It also automatically
refunds shipping charges on
products that are not delivered
within the specified time frames.
The move by Flipkart isn’t a first.
Other players in the space like
SnapDeal and Tradus had no
guarantees

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – Payment Wallet
New Product
Innovations
(6/14)
Wallet
The Wallet is a prepaid instrument that enables you to shop on Flipkart multiple times by
making a one-time payment of a certain value. When you select the Wallet as the mode of
payment for your order, the corresponding amount will be deducted from your Wallet balance.
Wallet compartments: The Flipkart Wallet has two compartments - Flyte and WS Retail. Wallet
Top-ups which can be used only for digital purchases go in the Flyte compartment, while store
credit issued by seller WS Retail resides in the WS Retail compartment. Promotional credit could
be issued to either compartments

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – First Customer Scheme
New Product
Innovations
(7/14)
Flipkart First
Flipkart First - an annual subscription
service for frequent shoppers
According to the e-commerce giant,
the Flipkart First annual subscription
service will offer customers unlimited
access to In-a-Day Guarantee delivery;
free standard delivery with no minimum
purchase price; Same-day Guarantee
delivery at a discounted price, and a
bonus 60-day replacement guarantee,
instead of the usual 30-day period
Competitor Analysis
Notably, the Flipkart First service is similar to
the Amazon Prime premium subscription service in
the US. Amazon Prime service offers customers in
the US a free two-day shipping on orders with no
minimum order size. It even gives access to
unlimited instant streaming of movies and TV
shows with Prime Instant and also offers free books

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart - PING
New Product
Innovations
(8/14)
PING is a chat service inside flipkart’s mobile
app that allows you to show pictures of the
products you are buying on flipkart to your
friends. This allows you to get second
opinions and bond better with your friends.
This is a new product innovation by Flipkart.
PING

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – A typical receipt generation
New Product
Innovations
(9/14)
Order Number
Logistics
Information Contained
Use Case
Consider the order number
OD2016381693…..602
As shown in the picture
This contains all the
information like the Product
Code, Date Of Purchase,
Reference Number, Delivery
Area Code and so on….
FLIPKART
LOGISTICS AGENCY
Customer enters the order
number and gets the real
time update of the shipment
status

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – A Procurement and Sourcing Cycle for Flipkart
New Product
Innovations
(10/14)
Inventory Levels
+
Rare Ordered Product
Direct Procurement
From Companies
Stocked in the warehouse and
Delivery Centers
Credit period=14-30 days
Credit Limits= varies with
products
Distributors of these companies
delivers the product in respective
flipkart’s Ware house (as per
requirement)
1.Weekly
2.Monthly
3.One-time
4.Urgent

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – Pricing for Flipkart
New Product
Innovations
(11/14)
Pricing & Margins
8-35%
On sale price of product
Parameter= Brand, Category margin,
Premium margin, Volume, Cost of Delivery,
Operating cost margin
High Margin Category
Toys, Watches, Beauty
& Healthcare, luggage
Mid Margin Category
Books, TV, Home & Kitchen,
Gaming, Belts,
Bags
Low Margin Category
Mobiles & Cameras,
Computer accessories

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – A Logistics Cycle for Flipkart
New Product
Innovations
(12/14)
Delivery
Centers
Ware house
Stocking
Levels
INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
Product’s
Inventory
Frequency Of Order
Of The Product
Location of the
product
Is Identified
Logistic body is assigned
Customer product
delivery location
(Delivery cost-Free
If ordered > 300 Rs.
Else Rs. 30 Extra)
Parameter = city, locality, Type Of product,
Cost definition, inter-city agreement etc.
Automated Software Sends Information about the product
Delivery to these logistics body

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – A Logistic Problem Solved and Approach !!
New Product
Innovations
(13/14)
Customer
order
Checked in delivery
centre inventory
YES
Delivery Time 1-2 Days
SUCCESS!!!
Sent to logistics
body
NO
Checked in the
nearest warehouse
inventory
Automatic inventory check
via Inventory
management system
Ordered to the company
YES
Delivery time 2-5 Days
YES
Delivery time 6-15 Days
NO

Overview
Digital
Initiatives (1/9)
Strategy
Sales
Promotion and
Outreach
Flipkart – A Small Summary
New Product
Innovations
(14/14)
DISTRIBUTOR LOGISTICS PRICING BPO
Flipkart
distribution is
getting designed
in such way that ,
flipkart can
become official
distributor of
several company’s
product future in
India. E.g. –
Motorola/Google
Flipkart Logistics is
getting designed in
such way that,
other e-commerce
website can also
outsource delivery
to Flip-kart.
Flipkart Pricing
getting designed in
such way that,
other e-commerce
website can
outsource delivery
of several products
through flipKart.
(Motorola, Google,
Casio)
Flipkart BPO
getting
designed in
such way that,
other e-
commerce
website can
outsource
delivery of
several
products
through
flipchart
•Open loop for Value Added Service
•Adding extra source of income
FLIPKART

Flipkart marketing strategy

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