CONTENTS

S.NO.

PARTICULARS

1.

Background

2.

PAGE. NO.

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Industry Profile

4-6

Statement of the Problem

2.1 Objectives of the Study

2.2 Scope of the Study

7-8

2.3 Limitations of the Study

3.

Research Methodology

9-10

4.

Literature Review

11

5.

Chapter Outline

12-14

Conclusion

15

Suggestions

16

Bibliography

17

1. BACKGROUND
1.1 Introduction to Online Shopping
Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods, services etc. from a
seller interactively in real-time without an intermediary service over the internet. Online
shopping is the process of buying goods and services from merchants who sell on the Internet.
Since the emergence of the World Wide Web, merchants have sought to sell
their products to people who surf the Internet. Shoppers can visit web stores from the comfort oft
heir homes and shop as they sit in front of the computer. Consumers buy a variety of items from
online stores. In fact, people can purchase just about anything from companies
that provide their products online. Books, clothing, household appliances, toys, hardware,
software, and health insurance are just some of the hundreds of products consumers can buy
from an online store.
Many people choose to conduct shopping online because of the convenience. For example, when
a person shops at a brick-and-mortar store, he has to drive to the store, find a
parking place, and walk throughout the store until she locates the products she needs. After findi
ngthe items she wants to purchase, she may often need to stand in long lines at the cash register.
Despite the convenience of online shopping, not everyone chooses to purchase items and
services online. Some people like the idea of physically going to a store and experiencing the
shopping process. They like to touch the merchandise, try on clothing, and be around
other people. Online shopping doesn't permit shoppers to touch products or have any socialintera
ction. It also doesn't allow them to take the merchandise home the same day they buy it. Online
shopping allows browsing through endless possibilities, and even offers merchandise that's
unavailable in stores. If someone is searching for a niche product that may not be distributed
locally, they're sure to find what they're looking for on the internet. What's even more useful is
the ability to compare items, similar or not, online. He can search through multiple stores at the
same time, comparing material quality, sizes and pricing simultaneously.

1.2 Industry Profile

FLIPKART
Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was
founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007. In its initial years, Flipkart focused on
online sales of books. But it later expanded to electronic goods and a variety of other products.
Flipkart offers multiple payment methods like credit card, debit card, net banking, e-gift voucher,
and Cash on Delivery. The cash-on-delivery model adopted by Flipkart has proven to be of great
significance since credit card and net banking penetration is very low in India.
The success story....behind Flipkart.com
Flipkart.com is a story of the two young graduates from IIT-Delhi who left their jobs in
amazon.com (an American multinational E-commerce company) in 2007 with a dream to
become Indias top retail Outlet In E-commerce Industry. They came up with an idea to sell
books including novels online. Flipkart's timeline shows it was to start as a price comparison
Platform, but there weren't enough e-commerce sites to compare. So, both the Bansal, who were
colleagues at IIT Delhi, and then at Amazon.com, thought, why not start an e-commerce site?
That was the genesis of Flipkart. From an initial investment of Rs. 4 Lakh this So they started to
make a website, although it was a bigger task to create a website with 50,000 titles but wouldnt
be impossible for IITians so finally they created which took about a month and a half to start a
basic working website with 50,000 titles and grown our catalog to over 1 Lakh available titles.
On 5th September 2007 they launched the companies URL i.e. Flipkart.com for the first time in
just a apartment room.

FOUNDERS OF FLIPKART

Flipkart was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal (26) and Binny Bansal (25), both alumni of the
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, computer science graduates from the 2005 batch. Sachin
worked at Techs pan for 6 months and then at Amazon
India for a year and a half. Binny worked at Sarnoff India for a year and a half and then at
Amazon India for 8 months. They quit their jobs in September 2007 to begin our start-up
journey.
Flipkart.com was founded on 5th Sept 2007. The website was launched on 15th Oct 2007.
From a start-up with an investment of just 4 lakh rupees
Flipkart has grown into a 100million online retail giant in just five years.

GROWTH TRAJECTORY OF FLIPKART

They started off in 2007 by setting up three centres across India without funding. Six months
ago, they reached number one status. They are also four times bigger than their nearest
competitor. The company started off small; today they have grown ten times over the last one
year and the aim is to touch the mark by December 2014.
Current Position of Flipkart.com
Flipkart started with selling books. In 2010, they added to their catalogue media (including
music, movies endgames) and mobile phones and accessories. In 2011, product launches
included cameras, computers, pens & office supplies, computer accessories, home and kitchen
appliances, personal care, health care, gaming consoles, audio players and televisions. In 2012,
product launches includes health & beauty products, Life style products which includes watches,
belts, bags & luggage. In November 2011, Flipkart launched a new Electronic Wallet feature that
allows shoppers to purchase credit to their Flipkart account using credit or debit cards, and can
subsequently be utilised to make purchases on the site, as and when required. From June 2012,
Flipkart allowed people to buy toys, posters and from October 2012, Flipkart entered into apparel
retailing.

ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY FLIPKART

They have been featured in Business Today as one of the top 25 start-ups of 2009.They were also
nominated

for

Ernst

and

Young

award

for

the

best

entrepreneur

of

2010

Apart from that we have been featured multiple times in start-up news as well as mainstream
news. Today, we are recognized as number one in the industry. As testimony to the superior
customer experience, the company has consistently recorded repeat purchase rates of more than
50%. We have also managed to get a registered buyer in every small town and city. We hope to
constantly improve our service standards.

Companies latest statistics

Today, as per Alexi traffic rankings, Flipkart is among the top 20 Indian Web sites and has been
credited with being India's largest online bookseller with over

11million

titles on offer. Initially funded by the Bansals themselves with 400,000, Flipkart has raised
funding from venture capital funds Accel India in 2012 and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010
and

US$20

million

in

June

2013).

Flipkart.com, on August 24, 2014 announced the completion of its 4th round of $150 million
funding
On

from
average,

MIH

(part

Flipkart

of
sells

Naspers

Group)

nearly

20

and

ICONIQ

products

per

Capital.
minute

Business results of Flipkart.com

Flipkart's reported sales as follows:IN FY 20082009- > 40 MILLION
IN FY 20092010- >200 MILLION
IN FY 20102011- > 450 MILLION
IN FY 20112012- > 650 MILLION
IN FY 2012-2013- > 800 MILLION
IN FY 2013-2014 - > 950 MILLION
IN FY 2014-2015 - > 1.25 BILLION
IN FY 2015-2016 - > 1.50 BILLION (and still counting)

2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

2.1 Objectives of the Study

Objectives to study this project are:

To study how Flipkart started.

To study marketing environment of Flipkart.

To study marketing strategies of Flipkart.

To study distribution of product and receiving payments.

To study product categories.

To study competition and S.W.O.T analysis.

2.2 Scope of the Study

1.)

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Scope of the study can be measured in two terms : ----

Geographical Scope

: This implies the area or region from where we are going to draw our
sample i.e. area where we going to conduct our research.
The study was constrained to the NCR region. This region was chosen because of the
convenience of location.

Time Scope : This implies the time we have at our disposal to conduct our study. The
time limit specified is approximately 5 months.

Secondary data time

: Secondary data has been collected from various sources. They

are :

Articles are collected from newspapers like Economics Times, Times of India. The
articles collected are latest so that they are relevant.
6

Relevant articles from Journals like Business Today, Business India, Business World, and
India Today. The articles collected are from journals published after 2000 because of paucity
of resources. These articles were chosen as they were the most relevant for the study being
conducted.

Relevant articles and other data from internet.

2.3 Limitations of the Study

The questionnaire was filled by the Flipkart consumers who because of certain apprehensions
might not have given correct details. For instance if the customer complained of the indifferent
attitude of him/her at the customer care the customer but obvious will not tell this.
A recent experience ( good/bad ) might influence, the perception of the respondents and induce a
bias in their ratings
Example: a recent bad experience with the site might change the beneficiaries perception
towards the organization
The sample size selected might not depict a true picture of the population.
The extent of the project was restricted to NCR only, which might not represent a true picture
It is difficult to get appointments from customers at work.
customers may give biased answers which may lead to incorrect results
Time available for the completion of the project was limited
Survey was mostly based on human perceptions related to various factors, which may lead to a
subjective result.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A research methodology defines what the activity of research is, how to proceed, how to measure
progress, and what constitutes success.
A research methodology broadly constitutes: ---3.1 RESEARCH

DESIGN

A Research Design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It specifies
the details of the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure and/or solve
marketing research problem.

Research Design
The research design is descriptive in nature.
Sample Design
Population: All consumers of Flipkart
Sample Size: 150 (Male: 120, Female: 30)
Sampling technique: Non-probability sampling
Location: Gurgaon, Delhi
Duration: 3 weeks
Data Collection method: Survey and General Observations
Instrument: Questionnaire
Data Collection
Primary data collected with the help of survey conducted using a questionnaire.
Primary research consists of a collection of original primary data collected by the researcher. It is
often undertaken after the researcher has gained some insight into the issue by reviewing
8

secondary research or by analyzing previously collected primary data. It can be accomplished

through various methods, including questionnaires and telephone interviews in market research,
or experiments and direct observations in the physical sciences, amongst others.
Secondary data present on the websites.
Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of secondary
data for social science include censuses, organizational records and data collected through
qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the
investigator conducting the research.
Secondary data analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and,
particularly in the case of quantitative data, provides larger and higher-quality databases that
would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition, analysts of
social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a
new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.

4. LITERATURE REVIEW
Review of related studies is essential for a well-designed research study. A summary of writings
of recognized authorities and of previous research abstracts provide evidence that the researcher
is familiar with what is already known and what is still unknown and untested. The survey of
related studies implies reading and analyzing the researches already done and reported in
dissertations, thesis, journals, abstracts, encyclopedia, yearbooks and hand books or in any other
published form. Hence, we can say that review of related studies provides direction to the
researcher in putting a fence around the research problem. For this research work, the researcher
has reviewed the researches done in the field of environment both in India and foreign countries.

The purpose of this review of studies is to explore past research conducted on the impact
of co-curricular activities on student performance and achievements. A customer is 'a
person or organizational unit that plays a role in the consummation of a transaction with
the marketer or an entity'.
(Sheath et al., 1999). From this definition, customers of mobile phone companies could
be individuals, households and organizations. Even as these companies pay more
attention to meeting the needs of their individual customers, they need also to make sure
that the needs of their corporate customers are met as well. Customer Satisfaction
Customers' needs desires and expectations'.
Kotler (2003) also defines satisfaction as 'a person's feeling of pleasure or disappointment
resulting from comparing a product's perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to
his or her expectations'. Satisfaction is an overall customer attitude towards a service
provider, or an emotional reaction to the difference between what the customer anticipate
and what they actually receive, as far as the fulfillment of some need, goal and desire is
concerned.
(Hans mark and Albinsson 2004). These definitions all point to the fact that every
customer has in one way or the other something he/she expects from his/her service
providers. These expectations have come into play because of a need that has to be
satisfied. These expectations are not the same as there are many customers.
Kotler et al (2002), posit that the customer gets dissatisfied if performance is below
expectation and vice versa. If performance goes beyond the expectation of the customer,
the customer is highly satisfied and delighted.
Motley, (2003), corroborates the idea of matching service performance with customers'
expectations. He notes that the mission of a business is the creation of satisfied clients
who tend to favor the organization through time by patronizing the services being
delivered by the business. He goes further to mentions that, businesses can achieve this
aim by understanding what satisfies and dissatisfies their customers or clients.

10

5. CHAPTER OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION:

ii)

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 UScrucial 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.

Flipkart would be running out of money unless big investors step in the next nine months.
The poster boy of India's latest e-commerce wave is limiting cash burn and improving
profitability,
iii)

but

that

alone

won't

improve

listing

prospects.

"While there is appetite among US domiciled investors for high growth stories like
Flipkart, recent negative experiences with offshore structures of Chinese tech companies
will cause concern. Flipkart has to be a foreign domiciled (offshore structured) entity for
US listing since Sebi regulations ask Indian companies to trade first on local bourses,"
said Praveen Chakravarty, CEO, Investment Banking and Institutional Equities, Anand
Rathi
Financial
Services.
Chinese e-commerce engines which took the foreign domiciled route to US listing have
seen their valuations plunge in the past one year. Flipkart with revenue topping $350
million has had negative gross margins till recently, but just slipped into 2-3% profit
margins after expanding product catalogue. It wants to boost operating margins to 8-10%
in
the
next
one
year.
Indian market regulator stipulates profitability norms for listing on local exchanges.
Flipkart, which invested heavily into backend logistics as a business differentiator, has
started controlling runaway costs and letting go some employees. It has more than 5,000
delivery
men
servicing
45,000
orders
daily.

11

"We are a privately held company and hence are unable to comment on investments,
margins or ongoing discussions with investors," said a Flipkart spokesperson in response
to
queries
from
his
newspaper.
Last year, General Atlantic Partners walked away from Flipkart being unconvinced about
the financial model. Promoters Binny and Sachin Bansal then turned to existing investors
for a bail out deal. The absence of big PE investors in Indian e-commerce has been
conspicuous with most firms managing to raise only follow-on investments from venture
capitalists.
Bansals control about 37% of Flipkart equity, while the Accel Partners and Tiger Global
together control 48%. Management holds the remaining 15%. This leaves Bansals with
little room in discussing a large deal with PEs beating down valuation. Some bankers
argue that Flipkart would opt for strategic sale with Amazon a likely acquirer if multi
brand
retail
FDI
is
allowed.
"Most e-commerce start-ups follow 'the last man standing' approach in a potentially large
and under penetrated market. But one cannot keep losing money on unit sales," said K
Ganesh, a serial entrepreneur with investments in smaller rivals of Flipkart. Avnish Bajaj,
managing director, Matrix India, explained that e-commerce in India has a lot going for
but most customers are coming in because of the low prices, there are no loyal buyers.
"Raising money for the big players won't be an issue but it's the smaller ventures which
will find it difficult," argued Bajaj whose fund has invested in Quikr. Anand Rathi's
Chakravarty avers that Flipkart's fund raising hinges upon better clarity on its US listing
plans.

S.W.O.T ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANISATION

Strategic analysis on Flipkart
The purpose of your analysis is to assess the current competitive position of the firm and to make
recommendations on how to improve that position.
Flipkart: Flipkart is a company founded in the year 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. It
is an e-commerce company that made online shopping popular in India. It offers various
products on online like books, mobile phones, digital cameras, laptops, watches etc. Initially, it
has started selling books online and later it has spread to offer many products.
1. SWOT analysis on Flipkart
2. Pestel framework.
3. about industry.
12

4. Competitor analysis.
5. Porters five forces model.
6. Current competitive position- generic porters framework.
7. Actions recommended improving its position.

SWOT Analysis:
Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Strong Brand value

Own Logistics Arm e kart

Own Online payment gateway solution

Pay zippy
Own Marketplace model

Opportunities:

Online fashion and apparel business

Providing logistics services to

competitors.
Growth in online retail sector in India

Investor driven organization Or lack of

Independent board
Secretive and Political Culture.
Excessive focus on expanding customer
base rather than pulling profits

Threats:

its

From competitors like Amazon, Snap

deal, Infibeam,

India

plaza,

Homeshop18 etc.

13

CONCLUSION
.

Flipkart is a story that comes from smart work and an it is possible attitude. There is a
need to for a couple of more stories like these and there would be no cribbing about
Indian E-Commerce not working.

Their aim is to make Flipkart synonymous with the shopping experience in India.

E-commerce in India has a huge potential going forward and this is just the start. They
have a lot of work ahead of us if they are to fully realize this potential they feel it will
be some time before they actually look overseas

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.

These are the reasons why many love Flipkart. Some people calling it as Amazon of India
which fits to Flipkart.

14

RECOMMENDATIONS

Flipkart has successfully placed itself into the prospects mind making it the Indias
largest online store with huge range of products. But it still needs to work on their core
competence that is books and stationery items.

Delivery services can be improved mainly in rural areas by selecting appropriate courier
service which has services in customer area for dispatching an item.

Can make free delivery to all priced products.

Can include more coupon codes and gift vouchers for increasing the traffic of the
customers.

Out of stock items can made available as soon as possible and intimate the needy
customers.

Should look for International/ Overseas markets or Neighbouring Countries.

Critical mass of Internet users-

Internet users in India is increasing at increasing rate, so Flipkart can target more & more cities
i.e not only tier 1 & 2 but also tier 3 & 4cities, which will help generate stronger customer base
& more revenues.

15

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Website:

Wikipedia

www.flipkart.com

www.youtube.com

http://flipkartforbusinessstrategy.blogspot.in/2014/02/strategic-analysis-onflipkart.html ACCESSED ON 27/03/2016

http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/product-and-brand-management-strategy-forflipkart-marketing-essay.php ACCESSED ON 27/03/2016

. http://www.pricegalaxyindia.in/2012/09/online-shopping-sites-like-flipkart.html

ACCESSED ON 27/03/2016

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