Case study on Marketing strategy of Flipkart.com - 1405016

E-commerce or eCommerce, is trading in products or services using Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle, although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices, social media, and telephones. It is one of the emerging sector in India and last few years have seen substantial growth in this sector.

E-commerce companies in India.

 

FLIPKART.COM 

Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company founded in 2007, by Sachin and Binny Bansal and headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. According to Alexa Internet, Flipkart's website is one of the top 10 Indian websites. Flipkart has launched its own product range under the name "DigiFlip", offering camera bags, pen-drives, headphones, computer accessories, etc.

During its initial years, Flipkart focused only on books, and soon as it expanded, it started offering other products like electronic goods, air conditioners, air coolers, stationery supplies and life style products and e-books. Flipkart now employs more than 4,500 people. Flipkart allows payment methods such as cash on delivery, credit or debit card transactions, net banking, e-gift voucher and card swipe on delivery.

Success Parameters 

India’s largest consumer e-commerce platform Flipkart.com saw a sharp rise in sales last year. Its total income or gross merchandise value rose 178 per cent or more than 2.7x to Rs 1,345 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013 against around Rs 484 crore the previous year. What’s more, its net profit actually grew 2.5x to Rs 2 crore. Yes, you read that right, ‘net profit’.

In 2014 Flipkart acquired Myntra.com in an estimated INR 2,000 crore deal.

Flipkart and Myntra are acquiring and incubating private labels to increase their fashion business. The combined entity is also roping in more international brands and Bollywood celebrities, while increasing the seller base. It is eyeing a share of about 65 per cent of the online fashion segment in the next 12-18 months. It claims it accounts for half the current market share.

Marketing Strategies used by the brand which makes it successful

Customer Attraction, Retention, Growth, Survival

Flipkart has path-breaking services like Cash on Delivery, a 30-day replacement policy, EMI options, free shipping - and of course the great prices that we offer, everything we do revolves around our obsession with providing our customers a memorable online shopping experience. Then there's our dedicated Flipkart delivery partners who work round the clock to personally make sure the packages reach on time.

Needs, Wants, Demand

 Need: Shopping.

Want: Shopping physically from stores, malls or shopping online from anywhere.  

Demand: It has wide network across the country and guarantees fast delivery at major cities.

Customer Satisfaction, Dis-satisfaction, Delight

 

Save time and effort

Today's clients appreciate the value of time and put it at the forefront of anything else and want to be able to follow up business in the best time of their convenience, it is through Web sites that customers can place orders in any time they want the customer can shopping 24 hours a day and throughout the year, and any place where there is no need for an effort to go to a specific place to buy he needs .

Freedom of choice
E-Trade offers multiple options for the consumer because the Internet contain  endless number of different topics and locations , services and users can access throughout the world It thus allows rationalization of the decisions taken by consumers due to its large number of sites of the flow of information in a timely and coordinated manner and accurate, allowing easy comparison between products and services Both in terms of price or quality or method of payment, and the time required to receive the required item or service and electronic commerce is particularly important for consumers in developing countries, where it can overcome the traditional barriers of distance and lack of information.

Internal and External Marketing 

Internal Marketing

External Marketing

  

External Marketing was mainly focused to promote the online shopping and assure the customers that online shopping are safe enough to use it.

4 Ps  

 

PRODUCT

• Website is great, easy to use, easy to browse through the products, add products to wishlist or to a cart, get product reviews and opinions, preorder products, make convenient payments using different methods and better Search Engine Optimization
• Product line on Flipkart.com have warranties as promised by thebrand of the product if applicable. E.g., Bajaj MX 2 1200 WattsIron with 2 Years Bajaj India Warranty and extra paid warranty forthe particular brand is available if applicable.
• Products are packed in such a way that they are Tamper proof,weather proof and breakage proof.
• Quality level of the products is absolutely fine E.g., If we take thequality of books available in Crossword and Landmark is sameas the quality of books ordered by Flipkart.com.
  Some unique product features ofFlipkart.com such as
  
  
  •   Wishlist
  •    E-gift voucher
      

PLACE

• Channel type: Words of mouth (if we can say that) which hasbeen key driver for their  growth.
•       When an order is placed they either serve the order from their inventory or procure the book on demand from various supplier sand then deliver the customer.
•       As on date more than 80% orders of Flipkart are handled via warehouses which helps in quick and efficient service.
•         We deliver orders in 1 day in Tier-I cities and 2-3 days in Tier IIcities and 3-5 days Tier III cities
•          Shipping and Courier would act as intermediaries in this process.
• Warehouses are located in the following cities, often near airports

• Chennai
• Bangalore
•  Kolkata
•  Pune
•  Noida
•  Mumbai
•  Hyderabad
•  Delhi

PRICE

• Price of the product taking account of various expenses such as Supplier expenses, Transportation expenses, Packaging expenses, Shipping expenses ,Courrier expenses, inventory maintenance expense, office and stationery expenses, sales and advertisement expenses, taxes, depreciation, discount allowances and many more expenses.
• Roughly about 5-7% profit per book orders which indicates that generation of revenue is on volume basis.
• Differentiated themselves by giving best selections, best services at lowest best possible prices. (Video for the same)
• Discounts up to 35% across all categories.
• Upper edge in competitive pricing.

 PROMOTION

• Employees of divisions like Website, Business Planning andAnalytics, ERP, Business Development, Product Managementand Marketing, Supply-Chain Management and CustomerSupport are generating revenue for it.
• Selection Criteria at Flipkart:-While years of experience arealways beneficial for a candidate, Flipkart's focus is to hire thosewho are able to consistently raise the bar and introduce a varietyof innovations to move this organization forward. As Flipkartgrows, we feel it is absolutely necessary that our employees arealso able to grow professionally with the organization.
• Adequate Training as per their roles and responsibilities is givento them accordingly and incentives.
• Telephone Sales force is only 2% of the total employeesfocussing to reduce the unsold/goods not much in demand.

USP

• The USP of Flipkart is to provide the consumers with the best online shopping experience. The company aims to provide its customers with good value and wants to be regarded as one of the most friendly service providers in the domain.
• It is also looking to become the biggest e-commerce organization of India while retaining its focus on serving the customers to the best of their abilities. It will also look to innovate in this domain and try to expand its offerings so that customers have more to choose from.
• Cash-on-Delivery is an excellent option for a country where a relatively small percentage of the population have bank accounts although I’m not sure how Flipkart gets around the cancellation-on-the-doorstep, or convincing delivery companies to collect cash.

STP 

Segmentation

•         People who surf the internet.
•        People who are too busy to go to markets to shop.
•        People who prefer a hassle free approach to shopping.
•        Urban population.

Target

•       Books/music, movie, Posters/Stationary items:15-25
•       Electronics:22-35

Positioning

•              Flipkart has position itself as one of the trusted online shopping portal with its cash on delivery and return policy.