Flipkart has been a massive success and is one of the first and biggest internet start-ups in our country.
In this Case Study, we will look at some of the early innovations done by the company and how Motorola and online smartphone sales helped the company scale up.
The company was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal and both have been pivotal for the company’s meteoric rise.
Flipkart’s journey has been phenomenal, from a small online bookseller to one of the biggest e-commerce companies in India.
Sachin Bansal (born on 5 August 1981) is an Indian Software engineer and Internet entrepreneur.
He is known for Co-founding India’s largest e-commerce platform Flipkart. He is from Chandigarh and has graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi with a degree in computer engineering.
Featuring in the 2012 Forbes Global 40 under 40 lists and his co-founder Binny Bansal, it is a significant milestone for the young entrepreneur. He has achieved so much at such a young age and plans to take his company to the next level.
The E-commerce giant has been in business for 14 Years and is now acquired by Walmart.
Flipkart was started in 2007 by Sachin and Binny Bansal and is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka.
Besides selling products from other manufacturers, Flipkart has launched its product range under the name “DigiFlip,” offering camera bags, pen drives, headphones, computer accessories, etc.
We all witnessed the success of Flipkart and how it reduced the competition to dust but little known is the secret strategy Flipkart deployed for the tremendous success.
Flipkart made a fortune & changed the online retailing game forever
There are several things that we consider apparent now, but once they were not available, like “COD” or “Same Day Delivery.”
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal of Flipkart has done many things innovative to make it an excellent Success story; some of them are as follows:
1) Cash on Delivery.
2) Same Day Delivery.
3) Exceptional packaging.
4) Standardization of Courier service.
5) Building consumer trust in online buying.
6) Leveraging Social media Like Facebook and Twitter to create hype around new launches.
7) Created a platform for Users to share product reviews – (Flipkart consumer reviews are very informative).
8) Flipkart Coupons & Contests for making new products successful.
9) Mobile Commerce and beautifully designed Mobile App.
10) Exclusive tie-ups.
In an interview, when asked to Binny Bansal- What did you do to educate the buyers and remove the phobia associated with online purchases?
“We try to make faster deliveries and sometimes on the very same day, while our cash-on-delivery process has helped us win customer trust. We have also built more secure and convenient payment options” – Binny Bansal.
These are some of Sachin Bansal’s great things to make Flipkart achieve tremendous success.
Flipkart dwarfs Competition after Acquiring Myntra:
Adding to the inorganic growth of the organization, Flipkart acquired Myntra. A masterstroke to rapidly eFlipkart’she clothing and fashion segment was not Flipkart’s Forte.
Flipkart is the most significant player in the e-commerce market, pegged to be valued at $3.1 billion. The shrewd acquisition has unquestionably helped the company endure to the top of the list and beat its adversaries like Amazon, eBay, and Snapdeal.
Soon after acquiring fashion e-retailer Myntra for an estimated price of over $330 million, Flipkart has received funding worth $2Moneyllion from DST Global. The funding gives Flipkart money & power to negotiate with Global manufacturers like Motorola to offer deals that Flipkart thinks are suitable for success in the Indian Market.
Moreover, in late 2017 there were talks of buying Snapdeal, that deal did not fall through.
Binny Bansal, co-founder, and COO, “Flipkart, said some days back in a company statement, “Flipkart has changed the way people shop in India. Today, we are the first choice in online shopping for millions of customers across the length and breadth of the country.
We met our GMV run rate of $1 billion a year before the target, reinforcing our leadership position. The funding further strengthens “ur capabilities to deliver on our next stage of growth.” Indeed, with so much happening on the positives,” “We can see that Flipkart ke Aache Din aa Gaye Hain.”
How Flipkart revolutionized Online Mobile Sales: The Moto G-X-E Factor:
Coming back to the Flipkart growth strategy – I will share what they did differently with the smartphone sales, which shook the entire handset industry and made Giants like Samsung rethink their strategy.
We know about Motorola India’s success, but it’s a strategic case study to see how Flipkart used Motorola & vice versa to bleed Samsung, Micromax & don’t in the price-conscious Indian market. HTC & Apple don’t compete in the mass market.
Flipkart marched way ahead of the competition – Snapdeal and Amazon- selling a good percentage of 6.5 million phones in 2014 that Motorola shipped globally.
Special thanks to Moto G & Moto E for the phenomenon’s success. Neither Motorola nor Flipkart ever dreamed of their success in the Indian Market. Factors like the best value for money offering from Motorola & exceptional service made the combo tremendously successful.
Motorola & Flipkart Revolutionized Online Mobile Sales in India
There were some 9,800 reviews on Flipkart (the only seller of Motorola Mobility products in India), and the average rating was about 4.6 (on a scale of 5). This tells us the scale and popularity of the handset in the Indian Market.
Estimated numbers for Moto G monthly sales are difficult to predict, neither officially disclosed by Motorola or Flipkart. Still, the estimated guess on the conservative side is around 7,00,000 to 1000,000 handsets sold since its launch in India.
While we see that Moto E is out of stock intermittently same was the case with Moto G a few weeks back when it launched.
Mobile manufacturers launch new handsets models every day in the highly competitive market. With three handset models, Motorola dominates every other manufacturer like there is no competition in the market.
Mr. Magnus, Vice president, Motorola, who joined the company in August last year, tells how Motorola aims to take its highly successful only-online India strategy to other markets. “Flipkart gave Motorola the speed to reach the buyers and distribution to sell the “and set to the rural & urban customer, helped them to sell large volumes.”
Motorola’s strategy to sell directly to the subscriber and remove the high margin of distributors and retailers has helped them keep the price significantly down compared to the competition.
Back in 2011-12 online sales for smartphones were less than 5% of total sales, but currently, online sellers have a share of 55% in the total mobile sales.
Flipkart played a crucial role in this growth story, and currently, the company sells close to 25% of mobiles sold in India.
Concluding thoughts:
Online mobile sales are in vogue. Even long before Xiaomi India’s launch or even before Amazon started selling mobiles, Flipkart created this new market along with Motorola.
How Much Does Sachin and Binny Bansal Earn?
Flipkart Owners Salary is one of highest remuneration in Indian corporate world and that too at this age.
Flipkart Story has inspired young entrepreneurs to launch online e-commerce websites- After less than six years of starting, Flipkart Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal took home a handsome remuneration of Rs 10.25 crore each in 2013.
