Flipkart - Internet Marketing

Introduction:

Flipkart was founded in 2007 and is based in Bengaluru, India. The co-founder and chief executive officer of Flipkart is Mr. Sachin Bansal and the co-founder and chief operating officer of Flipkart is Mr. Binny Bansal. Flipkart is registered in Singapore, and owned by a Singapore- based holding company. Flipkart is the leader of e-commerce in the fast growing Indian market. It owns and operates a online shopping website in India. Consumers can access the site online or through an app on their mobile phones.

The E-Retailing form of market was fairly something unheard of to the Indian consumer in 2007. Flipkart which has carved a niche for itself in terms of market share, goodwill and popularity in the online market to the extent that retailers are coming under threat because of its discounts and smooth operations. Started with an initial capital of four lakhs it now aims for annual turnover of around Rs. 4500 crores. It started off with books and later on started diversifying its market into apparel, electronics, software, music, etc. With over seventeen and a half million book titles listed, eighteen different categories, more than four million registered users and sale of fifty-five thousand items a day it’s quite a sensation in today’s online market.

Company Growth and Expansion

The company was initially self- funded, by both co-founders- Sachin and Binny Bansal spending Rs.400,000 to setup the business. They later raised funds from Private Equity Investors from Accel Partners & Tiger Global Management of $31million.

In the year 2010, the company acquired WeRead, a social book discovery tool; in2011, Mime360, a digital content platform company and Chakpak.com, a Bollywood news site; and its most recent acquisition is Letsbuy.com which is India’s second largest e-retailer in electronics.

Some Facts:

• Flipkart employs 4500+ people

• 2 million sales unit and more than 4 million visitors/month

• 11.5+ million titles,

• Flipkart is India’s the largest online book retailer.

• Registered user base of 4+ million customers

• Ships out as many as 45,000 items a day, clocking daily sales of more than Rs 2.5 cr(approx.)

• Flipkart is investing in expanding its network of distribution centers, warehouses, and procurement operations to reach more & more Indian cities.

Flipkart Business Model

Flipkart started its business with “Direct Online market” as a online book retailer. The first product sold by them was the book