Flipkart

Company Overview
Flipkart.com, Indias largest e-commerce brand for physical goods, started with books in 2007, and entered the consumer electronics category with the launch of mobile phones, digital cameras. It has recently ventured into retailing of Toys, Baby care and Beauty & Healthcare. The company has grown rapidly with the introduction of innovative features like Cash/Card on Delivery (CoD), 30 day replacement guarantee and its own delivery network. Today, the portfolio is spread across 14 categories from books to music, mobiles, computers, cameras, home & kitchen appliances, TV & home theatre systems, personal and healthcare products, stationery items and lifestyle products like perfumes, watches and health and beauty products. In addition to these, Flipkart has also made a foray into the emerging digital content market with the recent launch of Flyte, the digital music store. Flipkart is rapidly expanding its network of warehouses, distribution centers, procurement operations and 24/7 customer support teams. Total employee strength: 4,800 Headquarters: Koramangala, Bangalore No. of Offices - 5 Warehouse: 7 Book titles available 11.5 million Registered users 3 million Current manpower Approx. 4800 Orders served per minute 17 Own delivery network 40 cities

Management Team
CEO and Co-founder Sachin Bansal COO and Co-founder Binny Bansal President, Technology Mekin Maheshwari President, Operations Sujeet Kumar CFO Karandeep Singh Chief People Officer Aparna Ballakur

Business Overview
Product categories Books Stationary Mobiles & Accessories Computers Cameras Gaming

Music, Movies & Posters TV, Video & Audio Home & Kitchen Pens & Stationary Belts, Bags & Luggage Watches Beauty & Healthcare Baby care Toys Flyte- MP3 Downloads

Flipkart works on two models:

Inventory model Most of the items are stocked and shipped on receiving the order Current Order As soon as order is received, back to back order is placed on vendor

Flipkart provides Payment Options like: Cash on Delivery Flipkart Wallet (Store Credit) Netbanking Credit Cards, Credit Card EMI scheme Debit Cards E-Gift Voucher

Flipkart Offers: 30 day Replacement guarantee Option of cancelling order before shipment

Marketing Campaign
1) Heavily focuses on Customer Satisfaction with slogans like Don't count your customers before they smile' 2) Started with word of mouth publicity 3) Digital Marketing - Flipkart provides some very unique insight story relevant to product before leading readers gently to their related product link page 4) Affiliate Program 5) Comic Based Ad Campaigns a) No Kidding, No Worries http://www.campaignindia.in/Video/270975,flipkarts-new-campaignpegged-on-no-kidding-no-worries.aspx Segment: Urban consumer Target: Middle class and upper class Position: Targeted towards a market who are vary of using Credit cards online

The consumer is shown the option of Cash on Delivery service Replacement Guarantee www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCnIIAWUcRg Segment: Urban consumer Target: Middle class and upper class Position: Targeted towards a market who is apprehensive about the guarantee of the product The consumer is shown the option of 30 Day Replacement guarantee on any product.

b)

c) Original Products with Original Warranty Segment: Urban consumer Target: Middle class and upper class Position: Targeted towards a market who is apprehensive about the originality and warranty of products purchased online The consumer is shown the that all products are original and come with original warranty. 6) Apart from TV advertisements, they have hoardings in populous places like Delhi Metro

Competitors
Infibeam, BookAdda, Indiatimes shopping, ebay, Dial-a-book, Landmarkonthenet.com, Jabong.com

Financials
Monthly sales (as of July12)- Rs. 100 crores Revenues in Fiscal year that ended 31st March12 Rs. 500 crores Initially funded by the owners with Rs. 400,000 Raised venture capital funds from Accel India in 2009 and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 and US$20 million) in June 2011

Acquisitions
Year 2012: Flipkart bought Letsbuy.com, India's second largest e-retailer in electronics for an estimated US$ 25 million. Year 2011: Flipkart acquired Mime360, a digital content platform company. Year 2011: flipkart acquired Chakpak.com, a Bollywood news site that offers updates, news, photos and videos. Flipkart acquired the rights to Chakpaks digital catalogue which includes 40,000 filmographies, 10,000 movies and close to 50,000 ratings. 2010: Flipkarts first acquisition, WeRead, a social book discovery tool. The stated goal was to give Flipkart a social recommendation platform for buyers to make informed decisions based on recommendations from people within their social network.

Awards/Recognition
Ranks in the top 20 websites in India* Awarded Young Turk of the Year at CNBC TV 18's 'India Business Leader Awards 2012'

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal declared Internet Entrepreneur of the Year by Internet and Mobile Association of India -(IAMAI) in 2nd India Digital Awards coinciding with India Digital Summit, 2012. In the same event, India Digital Summit,2012, Flipkart.com was adjudged as Best e-Commerce website

Recent News/Events
BANGALORE/MUMBAI, July 17.12: Flipkart needs about $150 million from new investors in the next six to nine months even as bulge-bracket private equity firms remain wary of the online retailer's initial public offering plans in the US-crucial to making handsome return on investments. PE giants like Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts could look at potential investment deal but demand clarity on Flipkart's ability to pull off a public issue, said bankers familiar with the matter. Two existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global are unlikely to pump more capital after $100 million follow-on investment earlier this year. New Delhi, May 312012: Flipkart, the poster boy of Indian online retail, is going through growth pangs, making investors edgy with its financials. Analysts and venture capitalists said Flipkart was making considerable losses on transactions of books that accounted for 65 per cent of its sales volume and 40 per cent of revenue. NEW DELHI, May 72012: Flipkart, the big daddy of the online books trade, is feeling the heat of competition . Of late, several other portals are making a strong pitch for the pie with bigger discounts . Book lovers have options galore with players like Infibeam, Dial-a-Book , Bookadda , Friends of Books, Indiatimes Shopping, eBay, Junglee etc.

Career and Desired Qualities

Core values
Customer Obsession Ownership Impact Honesty Selflessness Communication Innovation

Culture
Open and straight forward culture Encourage transparency and accountability. Emphasise on doing and learning Mistakes are inevitable, we make them all the time; it's important that all at Flipkart learn from them. Offer a working environment in which all employees are given the space and ownership to improve this cherished customer experience.

Ability & Values

While years of experience are always beneficial for a candidate, Flipkart's focus is to hire those who are able to consistently raise the bar and introduce a variety of innovations to move this organization forward. As Flipkart grows, we feel it is absolutely necessary that our employees are also able to grow professionally with the organization.

Internship Program gives an opportunity to:

Work in roles like Business Development Manager or Product Development Experiment and implement new ideas. Interns given full responsibility to develop business model for launch of Toys category Work in a free environment whereas new ideas are welcomed Suggest and implement changes in systems Inculcate the importance of Customer satisfaction Have a lot of exposure as intern is completely responsible for his project

Career progression No pre-defined career path. Depends on the individuals performance and his ability to assume greater responsibility

Others
Flipkart is planning to venture into Apparels by the end of this year. It targets Revenues of USD 1 Bn by the end of year 2015 It is planning to come up with an IPO next year Plannng to expand presence to 60 cities by the end of year 2012. Flipkart faces a possible competition from Amazon.com when the latter enters Indian market next year This financial year, they expect to show investors Rs 2,500 crore in revenues, a 400% growth over last year's numbers.

Sources: www.flipkart.com http://www.mediavataar.com http://mediapanther.co.in/marketing/the-flipkart-success-story/ http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article3290735.ece http://techcircle.vccircle.com *www.alexa.com http://www.business-standard.com/