E-Commerce

Assignment on:

www.flipkart.com Reference:
[1] http://logisticsweek.com/news/2011/03/not-only-words/ [2] http://www.flipkart.com/about-us [3] http://www.livemint.com/2011/06/16233030/Flipkart-raises-20-mn-from-Ti.html

Submitted By:
Priya Soni PGDM 3rd trimester 13/07/2012

Submitted To:
Dr. Vishal Khasgiwala

Introduction:
Flipkart is an Indian electronic commerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007 and now it is among Indias largest online retailers with reported sales of Rs 75 crore for year 2011-11. Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal both are alumni of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi who started this company after quieting their jobs in Amazon.com with a vision To be one of the largest multi-category e-commerce destinations in India, with a strong focus on customer service In its initial years, Flipkart focused on online sales of books but it later expanded to electronic goods and a variety of other products. According to the co-founder Sachin Bansal, We started with books because they are comparatively easy category products to sell online. They do not require huge inventory maintenance, are easier to negotiate supplier terms and profit margins are high. Also since books are low value items, inducing customer trial was easy. It was a safe option to start off with books, given their appreciation in e-commerce the world over. Now Flipkart have about 11.5 million book titles, 11 different categories, more than 2 million registered users and sale of 30000 items a day which makes it India's answer to Amazon. All this was possible because of the major goal of the company is to provide a memorable online shopping experience to their customers so that they come back again and again using innovative services like Cash on Delivery, a 30-day replacement policy, EMI options, free shipping , discounted price and very importantly on time delivery of the products.

Funding of Flipkart:
Initially funded by the Bansals themselves with 400,000, Flipkart has since then raised funding from venture capital funds Accel India in 2009 and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 and US$20 million in June 2011)

Locations of Headquarter and warehouses:

The company's headquarters is located in Bangalore's Koramangala neighbourhood. Flipkart has offices, warehouses and customer service centres across India. Warehouses are located in the following cities, often near airports.

Bangalore, Karnataka Chennai, Tamil Nadu Delhi Kolkata, West Bengal Mumbai, Maharashtra Noida, Uttar Pradesh Pune, Maharashtra Kochi, Kerala

Products
Flipkart started with selling books. In 2010, they added to their catalogue media (including music, movies and games) and mobile phones and accessories. In 2011, product launches included cameras, computers, pens & office supplies, computer accessories, home and kitchen appliances, personal care, health care, gaming consoles, audio players and televisions. In 2012, product launches includes health & beauty products, Life style products which includes watches, belts, bags & luggage. In November 2011, Flipkart launched a new Electronic Wallet feature that allows shoppers to purchase credit to their Flipkart account using credit or debit cards, and can subsequently be utilised to make purchases on the site, as and when required. Flipkart is currently the only authorised online reseller of iPods in India. The role of logistics in the successful functioning of an e-commerce venture is indispensable. All these innovative services will be ineffective if the products do not reach the customers on time. Here are some Best Practices of the Supply Chain of Flipkart: Building the Suppliers base- The Company has established a network of more than 500 distributors and only stocks frequently ordered items.

 Building Infrastructure for Operations- The Company has 4 offices with more than 500 employees. Warehouses of the company are located in 7 cities. Company has tie-ups with more than 15 courier companies like Blue Dart, First Flight etc. to deliver their products and Indian post for areas where courier do not reach. The Process of Supply Chaino Buying the products like books etc. online. o Selecting mode of payment & making payments. o Enter the phone number and address where the items need to be delivered. o Purchased items are packed and shipped. o For delivering the items depending upon the area where the item need to be delivered either courier, Indian post or own internal logistics arm is used. o The delivery time varies between less than 24 hours and 3 weeks depending on the location and availability of the product. o The inter-city, trans-zone deliveries are made using air cargo. For others in close proximity, products are transported overnight by train or truck. o For the local parts of the cities where the warehouses of the company exist products are delivered using two-wheelers, bicycles. All the Team Members have been trained to work efficiently to meet customer expectations.

Flipkarts promotional Strategy:

Flipkart has been mostly marketed by word of mouth advertising. Customer satisfaction has been their best marketing medium. Flipkart very wisely used SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Ad-words as the marketing tools to have a far reach in the online world. Flipkart.com official Facebook page has close to 9 lakh 'likes'. Flipkart recently launched a series of 3 ads with the tag line - "No Kidding No worries". Kids were used to create the adverts to send out the message - if a kid can do it, you can also do it. The message is very clear to make people more comfortable with Flipkart, to generate a great customer relationship and loyalty on the basis of great

product prices and excellent customer service. All in all to create a great customer experience.

Business result:
Flipkart's reported sales were: 40 million in FY 20092010, 200 million in FY 20102011 750 million for FY 20112012. In FY 20122013, Flipkart is set to cross the 5 billion (US$100 million) mark as Internet usage in the country increases and people get accustomed to making purchases online. On average, Flipkart sells nearly 20 products per minute and is aiming at generating a revenue of 50 billion (US$1 billion) by 2014.

Suggestions & Recommendations:

The company has built a great brand name, they just have to maintain and enhance the same. It needs to keep introducing more products, adapting to the changing needs of the customer with time. The entry of Amazon.com in 2012 in the Indian e-commerce space has been cited as a big challenge to Flipkart. However I think that Flipkart is a respected Brand name in India and should be able to compete with Amazon.

Conclusion: (Future for E-Commerce)

India has 11 million online customers now which will increase to 30 million by 2015. The industry's size is expected to increase to $11.8 b. Seeing the prospects of growth a lot of new online retailers have come up and there is a price war going on to attract more and more customers so it has become extremely important to manage cost to increase profits which is only possible by building an efficient nationwide delivery network, warehouses , inventory management , logistics, efficient teams to manage all this therefore supply chain management becomes an important factor in this industry. Flipkart obtained funding from Tiger global management in 2010 which is being utilized by the company for strengthening supply chain capacity and upgrading technology platforms, including automation at warehouses.