Why does Flipkart got more loss when compared to Amazon in FY16?

I manage sales on all the 5 marketplaces (Flipkart, Ebay, Amazon, Snapdeal & Paytm). So, I
will give you my version of why Flipkart is failing.

Let me start with the fact that, when I first decided to sell online, I choose Flipkart as my first
choice, the fact that it is an Indian company and the strong motivation behind its
establishment made me put them in the highest position. On top of it, being a frequent flipkart
buyer, I always loved the service in terms of fast delivery and customer support.

However, once I became a seller on flipkart, I soon realized, the marketplace will not survive
longer. In fact, I have retracted a lot of products off my Flipkart listings and sell a very
limited nominal stuff today. Here are my observations.

1. Lack of speed for new entrants: Online business is all about catching the
moment. A moment in my terms is the season (weather), occasion (festival
or holiday) . Say I want to sell sweaters during the winter season, on
amazon, it took us less than 3 days to get an approval to sell in this
category. But flipkart keeps on rejecting the brand registry request for 3
weeks with hardly any reasons. Finally once the brand is approved, it takes
another roller coaster ride to get my listing live. This clearly proves that
introducing a new product on Flipkart isn’t a cake walk. And by the time
my product is on Flipkart, I already have made decent sale on Amazon.
2. Delivery Time: Of late, a lot of products sold on Flipkart are being
returned. This is due to the reasons like Delivery failed. And when further
enquired, we realized that a lot of customers order the same product on
multiple marketplaces with COD. The one that delivers faster is kept and
the latter ones are rejected by the buyer. The fact that the marketplace still
charges the seller for logistics and packing is not something the buyer is
concerned about. And with delayed deliveries by eKart, we felt amazon
ATS is doing a better job.
3. Marketplace Fees: Flipkart marketplace fees are way too higher than
amazon in most of the categories.
4. A failed Seller portal: We always encounter a lot of technical issues on
this marketplace, makes me think, if this was delivered by outsourcing on a
freelancing website. When I reported bugs to flipkart team, they hardly
understood what I was talking and thought I had issues with listing my
product. The support team is highly incompetent.
5. Hidden charges: We came across a lot of hidden charges, if customer
rejects the package, there is a different charge, if customer accepts and then
returns the package there is a different charge. You will have to monitor so
closely to fight with the seller support team to get refunds on wrong
charges.
6. Works like a government office: No one knows or understand the issue.
Every time you talk to a new agent, you have to repeat like a broken record.
This is very frustrating. Worst escalation matrix (amazon is no better but
still you atleast have a caselog that is more sensible)
7. No interaction between a seller and buyer: There was once a case where
we sent a large sized doll on order to a customer, the customer returned it
 stating the doll doesn’t work. On return, we realized that the customer
didn’t read the instructions right, there is a small paper that needs to be
pulled off so the battery can connect to the points, this paper ensures the
battery doesn’t drain out. Flipkart charged us for logistics (two way) and
penalty because customer complained that we sent a defective product. But
all that was the issue is with a small paper that should have been removed.
At least for product related concerns, flipkart should let buyer and sellers
connect, but they are so afraid that sellers would start working directly with
buyers eventually. In Amazon, you have the contact seller option, till date I
never had one customer of flipkart contact me and I would have saved a lot
if they did.
Over all, flipkart pricing are higher, sellers go through a lot of pain to get support and to list a
new product on flipkart. Considering the smooth and easy system of amazon, it is clear that
most of the sellers are drifting away from flipkart to amazon. This is the biggest reason
flipkart is loosing more money. Remember that when you start a marketplace, your sellers are
your assets, but if you treat them like worthless piece of waste , they will start leaving you!
They are like this big mall with no body wanting to sell in it.

Flipkart still has time to change but I wonder if they have the will to change!

PS: This is purely based on my experience and experiences from my friends who are also
sellers on Flipkart. If you are another seller and have better words about them, please write an
answer instead of commenting on this one. Faith in flipkart might get restored!

What's going to happen to Amazon in India?

In India, farmers and shopkeepers are the two holy cows - everyone have to pretend to do
good for them. The regulations are often made for them and Amazon like other retailers will
find a way to work around the issue. I will briefly cover what the problem is and what they
might try to do.
In India, retail is a very touchy issue as there is a fairly sizable population which runs family
operated shops. They are well organized and form a powerful voting base of the current
ruling party. Thus, India is among the last countries to keep a tightly closed retail market not
open to foreign investment or competition.

Since the rules prohibit large foreign investments in retail, Amazon found a way to work
around it. They said they are not a retail store, but a retail marketplace that just connects
buyers & sellers. Think of Uber, Airbnb or eBay. They don't own the products that are sold,
they just act as the matchmakers.

Amazon had a joint venture with a famous Indian businessperson, Narayana Murthy [in terms
of sheer respect he commands, he is like the Elon Musk of India] and that company
CloudTail became the only major seller. Essentially they just tried to abuse the terminology
by claiming a marketplace but with one seller.

Indian government didn't have regulations of online marketplaces [so new] and thus it bought
some time for Amazon. However, strong local players like Snapdeal pointed to a flaw in this
whole thing. If there were only one seller in the marketplace is it really a marketplace?

Thus, the new regulations make it that a marketplace cannot have just one seller dominating
all the transactions. They just picked an arbitrary number of 25% and said no seller can
account for more than this number.

How can Amazon work around this? They can create 4 such sellers - each contributing to
25% of the total sales on the Amazon's "marketplace". Then the Indian government might
bring a new regulation on how much ownership the marketplaces can keep in their sellers. It
will be a game of cat and mouse.

Amazon will survive in India, but as Indians we have to do some soulsearching on such
regulations and whether we want innovative companies to use their smartness for legal games
or do something useful. Such ridiculous regulations have to go, but it is politics.