A Dissertation Report

on

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF
FLIPKART

DISSERTATION; PAPER 407

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE
OF
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

PREPARED BY:

STUDENT NAME: - AMITABHA SARKAR

VU ROLL No: PG/ VUOAP 02/ MBA-IVS/ 134

VU REGISTRATION No: 00549 of the year 2021-2022
Major Specialization: Marketing
Name of Institute: EIILM, Kolkata

UNDER THE GUIDANCE

OF
INTERNAL GUIDE NAME: - TAPAS CHAKRABORTY
FACULTY, EIILM

MAY, 2023

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CERTIFICATE OF INTERNAL GUIDE

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 DECLARATION

I DO HEREBY DECLARE THAT THIS DISSERTATION ENTITLED MARKETING

STRATEGIES OF FLIPKART HAS BEEN DONE BY ME AND ALL THE
INFORMATION PROVIDED IS CORRECT AND TRUE TO MY KNOWLEDGE.
THIS DISSERTATION IS SUBMITTED BY ME FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE AWARD OF DEGREE IN MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.
THE DISSERTATION IS EXCLUSIVELY PREPARED BY ME AND HAS NOT BEEN
SUBMITTED TO ANY OTHER INSTITUTIONS OR PUBLISHED ANYWHERE
BEFORE.

DATE: 15.05.2023 Signature:

Amitabha Sarkar

PLACE: KOLKATA MBA, 4th SEMESTER

EIILM, Kolkata

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my sincere gratitude to TAPAS CHAKRABORTY Faculty, EIILM who has sincerely

provided me with critical suggestions and valuable insights which enabled me to complete this project and

bring out this report in the best way possible.

I would take this opportunity to thank Dr. R. P Banerjee (Director, EIILM) and other faculty members for

their cooperation and support.

I am also thankful to my colleagues for their motivation and to all those persons who directly or indirectly

helped me during developing this dissertation.

Signature:

Name:

Date: 15.05.2023

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

• INTRODUCTION

• Significance of study

• Bibliography

• Founders

• History

• Business Structure

• Funding and Revenue

• Consumer Affairs

• Marketing Mix of Flipkart

• Literature Review

• Research Plan

• Secondary Data

• Primary Data and Interpretations

• Limitations

• Findings

• Suggestions

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Introduction

Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bengaluru, and incorporated

in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before

expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries,

and lifestyle products. Marketing is the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy

the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines

measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential. It pinpoints which

segments the company is capable of serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate products and

services. Marketing is often performed by a department within the organization. This is both good and bad.

Its good because it unites a group of trained people who focus on the marketing task. It’s bad because

marketing activities should not be carried out in a single department but they should be manifest in all the

activities of the organization.

It will identify the different ways you can talk to your customers, and concentrate on the ones that will

create most sales. It tells you what to say, how to say it and who to say it to in order to make more sales.

Because timing is critical, it will tell you when to say it too the process usually begins with a scan of the

business environment, both internal and external, which includes understanding strategic constraints. It is

generally essential to try to grip many aspects of the exterior environment, including technological,

economic, cultural, politically aware and legal aspects. Goals are chosen. Then, a marketing strategy or

marketing plan is an explanation of what specific steps will be taken over time to achieve the goals. Plans

can be extended to cover many years, with sub-plans for each year, although as the speed of change in the

merchandising environment accelerates, time horizons are becoming shorter. Ideally, strategies are both

active and interactive, partially planned and partly unplanned, to enable a firm to react to unforeseen

developments while trying to keep focused on a specific pathway.

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 Type Subsidiary

Industry E-commerce

Founded 2007 (16 years ago)

Founder Sachin Bansal

Binny Bansal

Headquarters Bengaluru, Karnataka,

India (operational
HQ) Singapore (legal domicile)

Area served India

Key people Kalyan Krishnamurthi

(CEO)

Services Online shopping

Revenue Increase ₹61,836 crore

(US$7.7 billion) (FY 2022)

Owner Walmart (72%)

Tencent (5.3%)
Tiger Global (4.1%)
Binny Bansal (2.4%)
CPPIB (2.2%)
SoftBank Group (1.4%)
QIA (1.3%)
Microsoft (1.2%)
Accel (1.1%)
Others (9%)
Number of employees 30,000 (2016)

Parent Walmart

Subsidiaries ANS Commerce

Cleartrip
Ekart
Flipkart Health+
Flipkart Wholesale
Myntra, Shopsy

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 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The service competes primarily with Amazon India and domestic rival Snapdeal. As of March 2017, Flipkart

held a 39.5% market share in the Indian e-commerce industry. Flipkart has a dominant position in the apparel

segment, bolstered by its acquisition of Myntra, and was described as being "neck and neck" with Amazon in

the sale of electronics and mobile phones.

In August 2018, American retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion,

valuing Flipkart at around US$20 billion. Flipkart is valued at $37.6 billion as of 2022.It is planning to go

public through a listing in the United States of America in 2023. By then, the effects of major changes at home

and abroad were seriously affecting the conglomerate. Democratization in the 2011 had ignited a labor

movement that had led to soaring wages and the end of India run as a low-cost production base.

This project is all about the various marketing strategies of Flipkart. Company applied various strategies in

order to pull the sales figure up. New positive changes in their mobile handsets and in price as well helped

them penetrating the market as a giant. But after that the new problem about which was heard too often was

battery. Again, Flipkart changed their handsets with more powerful batteries and likewise changes kept on

taking place which helped in taking the company much higher.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://www.flipkart.com/

2. https://social.techcrunch.com/2020/10/22/flipkart-buys-over-200-million-stake-in-aditya-birla-

fashion-and-retail/

3. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/flipkart-group-narrows-

losses-to-rs-17231-cr-in-fy19/articleshow/71857535.cms

4. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/binny-bansal-sold-part-stake-in-flipkart-

in-july-funding-round/articleshow/88040182.cms

5. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/flipkart-to-sack-800-more-amidst-gloomy-

biz-outlook/article9091342.ece

6. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/flipkart-to-sack-800-more-amidst-gloomy-

biz-outlook/article9091342.ece

7. https://qz.com/1273463/heres-what-walmart-will-get-from-the-flipkart-deal/

8. https://news.walmart.com/2018/08/18/walmart-and-flipkart-announce-completion-of-walmart-

investment-in-flipkart-indias-leading-marketplace-ecommerce-platform

9. https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/flipkart-ipo-may-happen-in-2023-at-

a-valuation-of-70-billion/articleshow/90703817.cms

10. https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/flipkart-ipo-may-happen-in-2023-at-

a-valuation-of-70-billion/articleshow/90703817.cms

11. http://indianexpress.com/article/business/companies/flipkart-myntra-announce-merger/

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Founders

Sachin Bansal Binny Bansal

Founder Founder

Kalyan Krishnamurthy
CEO, Present

• Leading Indian E-Commerce company

• Headquarter in Bangalore

• Started in 2007 as an online book selling platform [ ‘Leaving Microsoft to change the world]

• Net worth $37.6 billion as on the year 2021

• Subsidiaries are Myntra, PhonePe, Ekart, Jabong and more

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History

Flipkart was founded in October 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, alumni of the IIT, Delhi and former
Amazon employees. The company initially focused on online book sales with country-wide shipping. Flipkart
slowly grew in prominence and was receiving 100 orders per day by 2008.

Growth, Mergers and Acquisitions

In 2010, Flipkart acquired the Bangalore-based social book discovery service We Read from Lulu.com.

In 2011, Flipkart acquired the digital distribution business Mime360.com and the digital content library of the
Bollywood portal Chakpak. Following the acquisition, Flipkart launched their DRM-free online music store
Flyte in 2012. Due to competition from free streaming sites, Flyte was unsuccessful and shut down in June
2013.

With its eyes on India's retail market, Flipkart acquired Let’s buy, an online electronics retailer, in 2012, and
Myntra, an online fashion retailer, for US$280 million in May 2014.[24] Myntra continues to operate
alongside Flipkart as a standalone subsidiary focusing on separate market segments.

In April 2015, Flipkart acquired Appiterate, a Delhi-based mobile marketing automation firm. Flipkart stated
that it would use Appiterate technology to enhance its mobile services. In December 2015, Flipkart purchased
a minority stake in the digital mapping provider MapmyIndia.
the UPI mobile payments startup PhonePe. In 2022, when PhonePe moved its entire base to India, Flipkart
separated the ownership of PhonePe and shareholders in India and Singapore and the respective shareholders
purchased shares of PhonePe's India entity directly. It was announced that a cash payout of approximately
$700 Mn was to the former and current employees who were holding PhonePe's shares.

In 2020, Flipkart Wholesale launched a digital platform for kiranas and MSMEs. In July 2020, Flipkart
acquired a 27% stake in Arvind Fashions Limited's newly formed subsidiary Arvind Youth Brands for US$35
million. Arvind Youth Brands owns the Flying Machine brand. Flipkart also announced it will roll out Flipkart
Quick, a hyperlocal 90-minute delivery service for product categories such as groceries, home accessories,
mobile phones, stationery, and more.
In October 2020, Flipkart acquired a 7.8% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail for US$204 million. The
following month, Flipkart acquired the intellectual property of gaming startup Mech Mocha for an undisclosed
amount. The acquisition formed part of Flipkart's plans to gain and retain users by offering casual games. In
November 2020, Flipkart acquired augmented reality company Scapic, which provides a suite of tools to
create and publish augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D content quickly and without coding.

Gujarati language was also added to their platform in 2021 which resulted in Flipkart being available in 8
local Indian languages that were Gujarati, Bengali, Odia, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil.

In April 2021, Flipkart announced the acquisition of travel booking portal Cleartrip.Flipkart also entered the
hotel industry for Indian and global market. The Flipkart Hotels uses Cleartrip API. Flipkart acquired the
Cleartrip's business in middle east by signing an agreement with Wego - an online market place for travel that
operates in middle east and North Africa. This included sale of website Flyin.com.

In April 2022, Flipkart launched its first grocery fulfilment center in Northeast India, based in Guwahati. The
centre was reportedly women-run to support the career progression of Flipkart's female employees. The same
month, the company established the Flipkart Foundation to support entrepreneurship and skill development
within underserved communities in India.

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Big Billion Days

In October 2015, Flipkart reprised the Big Billion Days event as a multi-day event exclusive to the Flipkart
app. Flipkart bolstered its supply chain and introduced more fulfillment centers to meet customer demand.
Flipkart achieved a gross merchandise volume of US$300 million during the event, with the largest volumes
coming from fashion sales and the largest value coming from mobiles.

In 2017, Flipkart sold 1.3 million phones in 20 hours on 21 September during its Big Billion Days promotion,
doubling the number sold on the first day of the same event in 2016.Flipkart held a 51% share of all Indian
smartphone shipments in 2017, overtaking Amazon India (33%).

Walmart Investment

On 4 May 2018, it was reported that Walmart had won a bidding war with Amazon to acquire a majority
stake in Flipkart for US$15 billion. On 9 May 2018, Walmart officially announced its intent to acquire a
77% controlling stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion. Following the purchase, Flipkart co-founder Sachin
Bansal left the company. The remaining management team reported to Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart
eCommerce US. Walmart president Doug McMillon cited plans to help Flipkart with its sourcing and supply
chain, while tapping on its expertise to expand Walmart globally. Indian traders protested against the deal,
considering it a threat to domestic business.

In a filing with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 11 May 2018, Walmart stated that a
condition of the deal prescribed the possibility that Flipkart's current minority shareholders "may require
Flipkart to effect an initial public offering following the fourth anniversary of the closing of the transactions
at a valuation no less than that paid by Walmart".
Following the announcement of Walmart's deal, eBay announced that it would sell its stake in Flipkart back
to the company for approximately US$1.1 billion and relaunch its own Indian operations. The company
stated that "there is the huge growth potential for e-commerce in India and significant opportunity for
multiple players to succeed in India's diverse, domestic market. “Softbank Group also sold its entire 20%
stake to Walmart without disclosing terms of the sale. Walmart’s acquisition of 77% stake in Flipkart was
completed on 18 August 2018. Walmart also provided US$2 billion in equity funding to the company.

On 13 November 2018, Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal resigned after facing an allegation of "serious personal
misconduct". Walmart stated that "while the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the
complainant's assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgment, particularly a lack of
transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation."

Other ventures

In July 2021, Flipkart launched its social commerce marketplace called Shopsy, which allowed individuals
and small businesses to direct sell and resell products to customers via social media channels. In December
2021, Shopsy entered the grocery delivery segment in 700 cities across India. Shopsy passed more than 100
million users in the month of September in 2022 with more than 60% of users coming to tier 2 and
other cities.

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Business Structure

According to a report in November 2014, Flipkart operated with a complex business structure that included
nine firms, some registered in Singapore and some in India. In 2012, Flipkart co-founders sold WS Retail to
a consortium of investors led by Rajeev Kuchhal.Flipkart's Indian entities are owned by Flipkart Pvt. Ltd,
which is registered in Singapore. The Singapore-registered entity owns eight Indian companies, including
Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd, the company that runs the e-commerce marketplace Flipkart.com, Flipkart India
Pvt. Ltd, the wholesale business, and Flipkart Logistics Pvt. Ltd, which runs Ekart (the internal logistics arm
that can be used by other ecommerce players). Flipkart also started Flipkart Health+ (through an app) in
2021 that deals into providing medicines and health services through technology. This was started with the
help of getting majority share in Sastasundar Marketplace Limited - an existing company that already was
providing online pharmacy services.

Notable companies in which Flipkart Group owns a controlling stake include:

Name Type Since Current Stake

Myntra Fashion 2014 100%

Ekart Logistics 2015

Flipkart Wholesale B2B-Commerce 2020 100%

Cleartrip Travel booking 2021 80%

SastaSundar Healthcare 2021 75.1%

Flipkart has made 22 acquisitions and 24 investments, spending over US$395M for the acquisitions. [needs
update] Flipkart has invested in multiple sectors such as e-commerce, consumer electronics, local services
and more. In 2022, it also revised it is policies for sellers in an attempt to make it more seller-friendly. This
included simplifying the rate card and reducing fee for return costs.

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Funding and Revenue

Global also participated in this financing round. As of May 2015, Flipkart had raised US$550 million in
additional funding from its existing investors in a deal that raised its total valuation to US$15 billion.

By August 2015, after raising another US$700 million, Flipkart had raised a total of US$3 billion over 12
rounds of funding from 16 major investors. In April 2017, Flipkart underwent another round of funding,
receiving US$1.4 billion in funding from investors including eBay, Microsoft, and Tencent. On 10 August
2017, SoftBank Vision Fund invested another US$2.5 billion in Flipkart.[131]

On 19 September 2018, Flipkart Marketplace Singapore injected ₹3,463 crore into Flipkart Internet. The
transaction was done in two tranches, according to regulatory filings.

In March 2021, it was reported that Flipkart was considering the possibility of going public through a
merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to speed up its listing process in the United
States.

In 2022, the organization started Flipkart Ventures and created a venture fund of $100 Million to be invested
in other 6 start-ups selected for Flipkart Leap Ahead, an accelerator program. Each startup will be given an
equity investment of up to $500,000. Once the first cohort of Flipkart Leap was completed, the program was
split in two distinct programs known as Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA) and Flipkart Leap Innovation Network
(FLIN).

The total revenue in 2022 was that of ₹43,357 crore was reported for the past fiscal year of 2020-2021. This
was 25% more than its revenue in the fiscal year of 2020. The losses were reported to have reduced by 23%
to ₹2,445 Crore with total expenses of ₹45,801.

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Consumer Affairs

A group of scammers was arrested by the police in Lucknow in 2022 who used the platform to scam the
customers. The scam included replacing the online ordered Apple products with bricks to cheat customers
and company. Such scams have also been reported in the past where soaps were delivered instead of
iPhones on Flipkart and also on Amazon.

House brands

Flipkart operates several house brands, including Citron (home appliances) and DigiFlip (formerly for
electronics and accessories). In 2017, Flipkart launched additional house brands, including Billion
(smartphones), Smartbuy (electronics accessories, effectively replacing Digiflip), and MarQ (for large
appliances, although its launch was complicated by a trademark dispute with an existing company, Marc
Enterprises).

In 2019, Flipkart began selling Nokia-brand televisions. A 55-inch, Android TV-based 4K Smart TV was the
first product released under that licensing agreement. A 43-inch TV was unveiled on 4 June 2020.

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Marketing Mix of Flipkart

Flipkart is a private company founded by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal. Established in the year 2007, it
deals with e-commerce. The company website is one of the most popular websites in India and has an
employee count of more than ten thousand. Its slogan, ‘TheOnline Megastore’ is very apt and popular. As
Indian’s are being accustomed to online purchases, they have contributed towards the success of this online
website. Flipkart is no longer just a shopping website; it has become the heart and soul of the shopaholics.
People have started feeling that this online portal is giving more choices in products than others. In a recent
development, the Indian Textile Ministry has signed with Flipkart a memorandum of understanding. Under
this MOU, the handloom weavers will get an easy-to-use platform through Flipkart to display their products
and conduct sales. Flipkart will also provide infrastructural support to the weavers. However, this move has
been made for the growth of handloom industry but it will also benefit the website. To associate with any
government project is in itself a testimony to their reputation. Some of the company’s key competitors are:
•Snap Deal

•e bay

•Naaptol

•HomeShop18

•Jabong

•Yebhi

•Amazon

•Indiaplaza

•Infibeam

•Letsbuy

•Myntra

Product in the marketing mix of Flipkart

Flipkart is an online retailing industry and started its operations with the sale of books. For two years, it sold
only books through its website as the management and shipment of books was much easier. After its
expansion, it started dealing with products like air coolers, washing machines, air conditioner, life style
products, stationary supplies, cell phones, computers, calculators, microwave ovens, water purifiers, laptops,
cameras, audio players, products relating to health care, dishwashers and e-books. Products sold on Flipkart
have the same warranties of the brand if sold outside in a showroom. It has recently launched its personal
product range called “DigiFlip”. Under this brand, it offers products like computer accessories, camera
bags, headphones and pen drives. In July, Flipkart introduced its own tablet phones and networking router
under its personal range “DigiFlip”. On February 5, 2014 in a special tie up with Motorola Mobility,
Flipkart has provided a platform for the launch of ‘Moto G’. Online shoppers went crazy with the unveiling
of this smart phone. This awe-inspiring response resulted in the sales of nearly 20,000 mobiles in a few
hours. Continuing their association, ‘Moto X’, an Android Smartphone, was introduced on March 19.

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Place in the Marketing mix of Flipkart

Flipkart functions entirely in India and it has its headquarters in the Garden City of Bangalore in Karnataka.
It is owned by a Singapore based company and is registered over there. According to India’s foreign policy,
foreign company is not allowed e- retailing over here. Therefore, in India, Flipkart sells the merchandises
through an Indian company WSRetail. Flipkart also provides its own platform to other companies who are
interested in selling their goods. The website is very easy and hassle free. Browsing, keeping track of products,
getting reviews, ordering goods and payment methods are very convenient for the individuals. At first Flipkart
started its operations on the consignment model in which they personally bought the book and couriered it.
Later they opened many warehouses where the goods were stored safely. The first warehouse was opened in
Bangalore and later in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Noida and Kolkata. As of today, more than
five hundred suppliers are working for Flipkart. At least 80% of the orders placed are handled and controlled
via warehouses. Shipping companies and courier companies are the real mediators in this setup. The quick
and well-organized service is the reason why the company has been able to put its mark on the Indian market.
Their delivery network is spread over thirty-seven cities with delivery being possible in any nook and corner.

Price in the Marketing mix of Flipkart

Though Flipkart started its venture with an investment of just INR 400,000, today its net worth is nearly
1billion dollars as its sales are increasing day by day. It still earns revenue of 50% from selling books online.
Electronic commerce has become a huge hit because of Flipkart. Its price policy is very flexible because of
online transactions. Amount to be charged is determined after looking at the innumerable expenses like
transport expenses, supplier expenses, packaging costs, courier charges, shipping cost, office expenses,
maintenance expenses, discount allowances, depreciation, taxes, advertisement expenses and many other
expenses. Discounts up to 35% are allowed periodically to boost up the sales and maintain competitive prices.
For payments, Flipkart allows credit card transactions, cash payment after delivery, transaction through debit
card, by swiping card on delivery, vouchers available as e-gift and net banking.
Promotions in the Marketing mix of Flipkart
Flipkart has changed the concept of multi brand retailing of products through internet in India. Its huge success
has proved to be an inspiration for other companies. It operates mostly through mouth advertising. The
satisfied customers have been their best promoters.

FLIPKART BECAME BIG BRAND USING DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

Customer -Relation

The customer is informed at every step through email/text When the order has been confirmed order
summary & shipment detail tracker information are provided.

Straightforward Return and Exchange policies

Flipkart allows its users to return the product if unsatisfied within 30 days period with the full refund of
money or exchange for another product.

Flipkart Wallet Add Money

Enjoy a Hassle-Free Shopping experience. The Wallet is a Prepaid Instrument that enables you to shop on
Flipkart multiple times by making one- time payment of a certain value. This will be added your wallet as
prepaid balance. When you Select the Wallet as the mode of Payment for the corresponding amount will be
deducted from your wallet balance.

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FLIPKART.COM BUSINESS OBJECTIVES:

To increase Traffic and boost sales and revenue through integration of Mobile Apps, Display, Pay Per Click
and Search Engine Optimization.

STRATEGY ADOPTED:
Google Ad words

PPC Search ad – Category based text ads.

Display – Products offers based ad images.

Gmail – Content / Topic based Text ads.
Keyword Targeted – FLIPKART.
Paid ad rank – 6 or 7
Overall Paid Search Performance – Good.

Remarketing
Remarketing activates if customer visit site and clicks any display / Search ad.

Successful Brand Campaigns

” Fair Tale “

” No Kidding, No Worries “

” Shopping ka Naya Address “

“Shop Anytime, anywhere “

” Big Billion Day “,” Singles Day “.

TV Commercial Strategy

• The objective is to build the brand as a verb for Shopping.

•Target Biggest event of the year i.e IPL T20 2014
•Total 29 ads released Since 2011
•Portraying Kids as Adults in ads gives higher brand recall.
•Ads Targeted as Pan India Shoppers of all generation.
•Ads aimed to Popularize the brand as a verb.
•Testimonial based Creative Campaigns to demystify the fear of Online Shopping experience.
•Mobile App downloads TV ad to increase m-commerce Value.
•Launching Campaigns i.e” The Big Billion Day “

Facebook Strategy
•Category Focused FB page i.e books, gaming, fashion etc. which is for building engagement with fans
•Deals and Offers based FB Page which is for customer acquisition.
•Likes- 3.3 million
•Seasons to Festivals or Birthday based Cover Photos.
•Updates on new Products and Customer queries.
•Response on customer Complaint is average and Inconsistent
•Running Contests / Gamification
•Exclusive customer tab for support
•Avg Response per Post 40-50•Focus is on Customer acquisition and engagement.

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Twitter Strategy
•Follower -160 K
•Updates on new Product, Offers and Discounts using appealing Videos and Images.
•Tech @ Flipkart exclusive channel on tech updates.
•Running Product / Services based contest Like Flipkart First, AcerA1 on Flipkart.
•Avg 2-3 Products offers / launch based post per day basis.
•Flipkart Support Exclusive Channel on queries Solution.
•Flipkart Offers Special offers-based channel.
•24*7 Customer Service Channel.
•Real-time Connect.
•Response on the query is on real time.

YouTube Strategy
•It does not have its own channel.
•It Executes lots of YouTube Campaigns. i.e., Search Page, Display ad, Video ad etc.
•Total 29 Videos Uploaded.

Pinterest Strategy
•Deals/ Offers based Pinterest.
•8 Boards and 290 Followers.

Google + Strategy
•Followers- 500 k
•1-2 Post on Per day basis.
•Less focus on deals / offers.
•More focus on Company Updates, Product Launch Updates besides, Festive/season/customer mood-based
posts.
•Focus is on more on engagement and brand building rather customer acquisition.
•Interaction / Engagement with the follower is the area of improvement.

Content Marketing Strategy

•It has its own Official Blog.
•Blog page gives updates about company, industry, tech etc.
•It has its own unique tech-focused blog too.
•PR release page also exists.
•PR release about company info, events, exclusive product service updates.

Mobile Marketing Strategy

•Mobile Optimized website is available.
•Mobile app on all Platforms (iOS, Android, Windows)
•5 million downloads, 4.3 rating, responding to each negative review.
•25% sales via mobile.
•Campaigns aiming towards Product Launch, Acquisition, Engagement and retention.
•Mobile remarketing does not seem to be Part of Strategy.
•Mobile Weekend offers to target repeat Purchase.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Flipkart is a company which revolutionized the e-commerce sector of India and in an absolute sense it entails
no introduction as such. The year 2007 witnessed the landmark of Flipkart being founded by two employees
of Amazon.com –Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (The two are not related, the common surname is merely
a beautiful and confusing coincidence). The two studied together in one of the most reputed technical institutes
of Nation – that is IIT Delhi and further worked in Amazon, the international giant of e-commerce.

[CNN; 2010; SACHIN BANSAL] “A simple desire to create a tailor-made product for the Indian consumer
has grown into something beyond what we imagined.”
Sachin
muses. However, it’s pretty interesting to know that Flipkart was supposed to be a comparison portal for e-
commerce sites. But then the founders realized that there weren’t enough e-commerce sites to be compared!
And hence it sparked that why not an e-commerce site itself? This is how Flipkart came into existence. Within
this short span of 5 years (2007 to 2012) Flipcharts grown tremendously. One of the most inspiring and
amusing facts about Flipkart is that it was started on a personal investment of merely INR 4, 00,000 (though
some sources claim it to be INR 5,00,000). It clearly exhibits the confidence of the founders and expresses
that they knew what they were doing. “When we started e-commerce, it was a dead sector, we went to VCs
and everybody said basically, this is not the sector we invest in. If you open a travel company, I will probably
give you money.” Said Binny Bansal
in an interview with CNN.

Growth of Flipkart:

[Sachin Bansal, CEO of Flipkart, IANS] “We are clocking daily sales of Rs.2.5 crore ($ 5mn). Our growth
rate has been 100 per cent quarter on quarter,”. This financial year, they expect to show investors Rs 2,500
crore in revenues, a 400 percent growth over last year’s numbers. Nearly 5,000 people, including contractors,
work for them. Their closest competitors make do with 700-800 people. In the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange)
list of MID CAP Companies Market Capitalization we can list those BELOW 4350 odd crores as a
comparison, since Flipkart is valued at 1B$.In simple language Flipkart is more valuable than – Patni, Bata
India, Tata, Tele, naukri.com, India bulls, Real Estate, UTV Software, JETAIRWAYS, HT Media (Hindustan
Times), Jubilant (Dominos Franchisee in India), Shoppers Stop, EDUCOMP, India Infoline, DENA Bank, and
TV18 to name just a few. These were a few figures, data and facts which make us realize the worth of Flipkart
and how it inflated to become India’s best e-commerce site within a minuscule period of five years. Its
influence and grip in the Indian market is fortified by the news that it’s the only threat to Amazon to set a base
in India.

[SACHIN BANSAL, FLIPKART,2010, CNN] “Last year, we did about USD 100 million in sales. Can we
be profitable at USD 100 million of sales? Yes, definitely, it is a pretty decent number of sales. But what do
we want to be? We want to be profitable at USD 2 billion of sales or USD 3 billion of sales. That is where we
want to turn profitable. We see market size at that level, so it will probably be very stupid of us to be thinking
about profitability at such small scale.”

SUSHMITA CHOUDHURY AGARWAL, ET Bureau Apr 22, 2013 (The Economic Times)

Bargain, hot deal, steal... every day consumers are bombarded with hundreds of seemingly promising offers.
However, not every value buys saves money; some can be costly mistakes. Here’s how to figure out the trap
from the real deal. It's a great way to save on interest, particularly if you aren't keen on paying the high rate
for revolving credit with your existing card. However, be warned that such a teaser deal is typically temporary.
If you don't pay the outstanding amount within the offer period, you will be penalized with a higher interest
rate, possibly more than the one on your old credit card.

Page | 20
[MCkensy’2012] The Indian e-commerce market was worth 75,000 crore, in 2013, according to a joint report
by KPMG and Internet and Mobile Association of India. India has the potential to double its economic
contribution via Internet, from 1.6 percent GDP at present to 2.8 and 3.3 percent by 2015.

[Roberts, Wallace, Moles 2003, 2010] An understanding of mergers and acquisitions as a discipline is
increasingly important in modern business. A glance at any business newspaper or business news web page
will indicate that mergers and acquisitions are big business and are taking place all the time.

[Banerjee & Golhar, 1993; Ramamurthy et al., 1999; Webster, 1995], [Dasgupta et al.,1999],[Zhu et al.,
2002], Competitive pressure has been identified through numerous studies as an important determinant of IT
adoption, whether it is EDI diffusion

adoption of IT innovations [Gatignon & Robertson, 1989; Grover, 1993], degree of computerization or e-
business adoption. Outstanding planning and execution are essential for a successful strategic alliance.
Integration is reached only after mapping the process and issues of the companies to be Flipkart - Myntra;
From a Merger to an Acquisition 73 merged. Even then just 23% of all acquisitions earn their cost of capital.
When M&A deals are announced, a company’s stock price rises only 30% of the time. In acquired companies,
47% of executives leave within the first year, and 75% leave within the first three years. Synergies projected
for M&A deals are not achieved 70% of the time. Productivity of merged companies can be affected by up
to50% in the first year and financial performance of newly merged companies is often lacking
[Practical guide for Merger and Acquisition, 2009].

[Dedrick & Kraemer, 2002; Sturgeon, 2002] Using the Internet for transactions and coordination can save
time and money on delivery of goods by using rich information flows to simplify and streamline the flows of
physical goods in the supply chain. Finally, firms that buy and sell in international markets are under pressure
from trading partners to adopt e-commerce (especially B2B) to improve coordination with other members
of the value chain.

Page | 21
 Research Plan

➢ Study of advertising strategies used by Flipkart to position itself among the

consumers.

➢ Designing the questionnaire

➢ Collection of primary data

➢ Analysis and interpretation of data

➢ Findings

Page | 22
Secondary Data Analysis:

Advertisements used in newspapers and Magazines:

Newspaper advertising work on the importance of building trust and confidence with the readers.

Newspapers have the greatest impact because of following reason:

• Expect say that greater the exposure of the advertisement, the longer is the period of its impact
among the readers. Therefore, experts feel an advertisement stays in the memory of a
consumer for such longer time, chances are quite probable that he might opt for purchasing or
availing your services as and when required. This lead for higher sales and brand as well as
product awareness.

• A newspaper reader is so involved in his reading that sometimes the content in the
advertisement creates an emotional impact on him. It is the power of being able of newspaper
advertising

• In other media, especially online media, people get disturbed by the distractions in the form
of pop-ups and other advertisement that keep flashing on and off the screen. In fact, experts
point out that instead of having any good impact, these ads serve to distract the readers and
the viewers. However, newspapers, point out experts, involves a focused reading where there
are no disturbing and unwanted pop-up of advertisements. As there are no distractions between
the reader and the story himself, leading to increase in the trust among the readers. Talking
advantage of this trust quotient, advertiser charge money on newspapers to send their
massages loud and clear among the readers.

Hence, Flipkart has used advertisements in newspapers and other source which are colorful, bright, most of
the pictures consist of kids, and have clear massages which create a impact on the readers.

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Primary Data and Interpretations:

Numbers of Respondents and their distribution

60

90

Males Females

I took a survey of 150 respondents, where number of females was 60 and that of males were90 and the
survey is taken hand to hand and also by using Google online forms.

Page | 24
Questionnaire: -

1. How often do you purchase from Flipkart?

Always—Often—Occasionally—Rarely—Never

35 33
30
27
25
21 20
20
19
15
15

10
10

5
5

0
Always Often Occasionally Rarely Never

Male Female

Frequency of purchase done by Male is much higher in comparison to Female. Most of the Male consumer
purchase occasionally while most of the Female purchase rarely from Flipkart.

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 2. How did you come to know about Flipkart?

(a) Friends

(b) Television

(c) Newspapers and Magazines

(d) Advertisements in websites

(e) Others if any please Specify…………………….

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Friends/Relatives TV Newspapers and Advt. on website Others
Magazines

Interpretation:
Most of the consumers got to know about Flipkart through friends followed by television and online
advertisements. This proves that the word-of-mouth strategy by Flipkart is the most successful source of
making people aware about them and their products. This success can only be gained through satisfied
customers who act as supporters for your products.

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 3. What category of product do you purchase from Flipkart?

a) Books and Stationery

b) Electronic Items

c) Mobile and Accessories

d) Health and Beauty Products

e) Music, movies and posters

f) Cameras

g) Clothes/Footwears

h) Mostly everything

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Males Females

• Males and Females both purchase everything more of clothes & Accessories brand.

• Males prefer electronics appliances as mobile, laptop and other electronics.

Page | 27
 4. My frequency of purchase has increased/decreased/remained unchanged since my First

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
INCREASE DECREASE REMAIN UNCHANGED

MALE FEMALE

The frequency of purchase from Flipkart for most of the male and female consumers has increased while it
has remained unchanged for most of the consumers.

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 5. How often does the Flipkart promotional scheme on websites influence you to visit their site?

Always-------Often--------Occasionally--------Rarely--------Never

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Always Often Occasionally Rarely Never

MALE FEMALE

Promotional schemes impact more male consumers than female to visit the website of Flipkart. The frequency
of visit is still very less because most of the male consumers occasionally visit Flipkart while for the Female
consumers it is rare.

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LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

No research is complete without confessing the limitations that was faced while conducting a study which
will add to present learning. This study too like the others have certain constrain which has been discuss
below: -

• The study is mainly concentrated on Flipkart.com

• The sample of the size will be limited to time resources and sample size.

• The information will be collected is valid until there is no any technical change or any innovation.

• The result assuming that respondents have given accurate information based on their experience.

Page | 30
Findings: -

• Frequency of purchase is more among Men than Women.

• Word of is more influential in promotion as many people were made aware by their friends.

• Most of the consumer are happy with the services of Flipkart and are willing to recommend them to
make their purchases from Flipkart.

• Except packaging and warranty, all others are considered as important in the decision making of online
purchasing.

• Almost all the factors that the Flipkart is focusing onto are of high importance to the consumers off
all over the world.

• The commercials used by Flipkart are effective enough to deliver the massage since the ads are
interesting enough to gain attention and position itself into the consumer’s mind.

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SUGGESTIONS: _

Flipkart has successfully placed itself into the consumers mind making it the India’s largest online store with
huge range of products. But Flipkart still need to works on the core competence that is books and also in
stationery items.

With the entry of Amazon.com it will be competitive market for Flipkart and hence will have to position itself
better, as we will still see that huge percentage of Female buyer are still unaware of Flipkart. Those Female
who purchases, has a very less frequency rate which has remained unchanged. Therefore, they need to get
better at providing better services which can be fulfilled in reducing the delivery time, selling second hand
products which will increase consumers affordability much more and help penetration into the market.

They can even have their retail stores which can give an access to consumer to feel and analyses the products,
which will help them to win consumers faith.

Price will still be a cause as Amazon being a huge company will use its economics of scale to remove their
opponents from the market; therefore, they need to be more competitive on those aspects.

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