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 later it 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, Cash on
Delivery and Card Swipe on Delivery.

History
Flipkart was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both alumni of the Indian Institute
of Technology Delhi. They worked forAmazon.com before quitting and founding their own
company. The first book the company sold was John Woods' Leaving Microsoft to Change the
World. Today, as per Alexa traffic rankings, Flipkart is amongst the top 20 Indian Web sites and has
been credited with being India's largest online bookseller with over 11 million titles on offer. Further
in 2012, Flipkart added A.C, air coolers, stationery supplies & life style products to its product
portfolio. As of today, Flipkart employs more than 4,500 people.

Funding
Initially funded by the Bansals themselves with 400,000,Flipkart has raised funding from venture
capital funds Accel India (US$1 million in 2009) and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010
and US$20 million in June 2011).
Flipkart.com, on 24 August 2012, announced the completion of its 4th round of $150 million funding
from MIH (part of Naspers Group) and ICONIQ Capital.The company announced, on 10 July 2013,
that it has raised an additional $200 million from existing investors including Tiger Global, Naspers,
Accel Partners and Iconiq Capital.

Something to know about The Two Mastermind

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
Techspan 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 startup 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 Rs 400000
Flipkart has grown into a $100 million revenue online retail giant in just five years.

About Flipkart.com
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.

Idea Of Flipkart
Idea itself is not new. The genesis of the thought to set up Flipkart came from the bad quality service
provided by competitors. Flipkart business opportunity was to do better than their competition in
terms of service. Hence, their main mission was to focus on customer service. As a start-up
company with ambitions in the e-commerce domain, they had to choose a category that could
facilitate getting started quickly. The low transaction size helped induce customer trials. With their
strong technology background, they could keep the initial costs low.

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 Bansals, who were
colleagues at IITDelhi, 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 companys URL i.e Flipkart.com for the first time in just a
apartment room.

Why did they choose to be an Entrepreneur?

They saw a good opportunity in the market around e-commerce. Also, regular job was not as
challenging. The excitement and satisfaction that comes with building something of a long lasting
value is addictive enough for them to continue this. They started flipkart.com because they
themselves felt the need for a good online book store. E-commerce sector is one of the toughest to
get into in India. They believe that they can make a difference here. They wanted to create something
which has a long lasting value and which they can be proud of.

Why Flipkart ?
An attractive neutral name is what they looked for. Good domain names were hard to get. They were
looking at names that did not just speak of books alone, but one that could suit any category of
Products that we may add in future. Also, they wanted to have a catchy name with high recall
potential. Flipkart could in simple terms mean Flipping things into your Kart.

Challenges faced by Flipkart during its launch

One major challenge was to get tie-ups with the major book vendors as they did not have an off-line
book store. They have somehow managed to persuade them and now most of the vendors are
supporting us. The second major challenge was to get the approval for the credit card payment
gateway. We did want to use CC Avenue as their interface is really confusing. So they had to
convince Axis Bank for the payment gateway and that was not easy given the fact that they are a
self-funded startup and they dont have an offline presence.

The journey of flipkartafter launch..

The journey was quite challenging. Getting customers, suppliers, etc to trust has been a
challenge.They overcame it by persevering in the face of challenges. They started by identifying
people who could trust us initially and slowly built upon our good business relations with them. They
had assumed a lot of things, especially around marketing. When those assumptions turned out to be
incorrect the business model had to be changed. They have changed directions multiple times and
have taken each mistakes a learning experience!!

What sets Flipkart apart from other ventures

The process involved in online shopping for books has gone through drastic changes and is more
secure right now. A customer could use our user-friendly web page to place an order, once the order
is placed online the book is taken off the online inventory. In case of unavailability it will be
purchased from a supplier. The Book will then get packed and couriered on the same day. Flipkart is
currently tied up with around 12 courier service providers. Flipkart also use Indian Postal services to
reach areas without courier providers. Logistics play an important role in our business. Our key
differentiators are Availability of variety of goods of various categories, online shopping experience
on the site and post sales experience.Apart from this the Cash On Delivery service is also one of the
main reason which keeps it apart from other E-commerce portals
Flipkart.com is the largest online book store in India. Currently Flipkart has over 4 million titles
listed; ranging across all categories such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Literature, Educational,
Professional and Technical, Religion and Philosophy, Entertainment, etc.

What sets Flipkart apart from other ventures

The process involved in online shopping for books has gone through drastic changes and is more
secure right now. A customer could use our user-friendly web page to place an order, once the order
is placed online the book is taken off the online inventory. In case of unavailability it will be
purchased from a supplier. The Book will then get packed and couriered on the same day. Flipkart is
currently tied up with around 12 courier service providers. Flipkart also use Indian Postal services to
reach areas without courier providers. Logistics play an important role in our business. Our key
differentiators are Availability of variety of goods of various categories, online shopping experience
on the site and post sales experience.Apart from this the Cash On Delivery service is also one of the
main reason which keeps it apart from other E-commerce portals

What is their target market?

The book market in India is pegged at Rs 10,000 crore of which 1% is being bought online. Flipkart
has a market share of 20 25% out of the overall online sales. The online segment is growing at 50%
year on year as online payments have become more secure. The family of book buyers on Flipkart is
spread across the country, with registered buyers in every city and small town today. Currently
speeding along at the rate of more than one book sold every minute, we have registered sales of more
than five lakh books in the past two years and look forward to a promising future. In India, book
readers across the country with internet access could use our services. Our services are also open to
book buyers outside the country who can make purchases and have it delivered to their loved ones
anywhere in the country.

Growth trajectory of Flipkart......

They started off in 2007 by setting up three centers across India without funding. Six months ago,
theyreached 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 aim to touch
the
Rs 400 crore mark by March 2013.

Current Position Of Flipkart.com

Flipkart started with selling books. In 2010, they added to their catalogue media (including music,
movies andgames) 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.com

Thy have been featured in Business Today as one of the top 25 startups of 2009.They were also
nominated for. Ernest and youngaward for the best entrepreneur of 2010.
Apart from that Flipkart have been featured multiple times in startup news as well as mainstream
news. Today, we are recognized as number one in the industry. As a testimony to the superior
customer experience, the company has consistently recorded repeat purchase rates of more than 50%.
Flipkart have also managed to get a registered buyer in every small town and city.

Companies latest statistics

Today, as per Alexa traffic rankings,Flipkart is among the top 20 Indian Web sites and has been
credited with being India's largest online bookseller with over 11 Million titles on offer. Initially
funded by the Bansals themselves with 400,000, Flipkart has raised funding from venture capital
funds Accel India in 2009 and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 and US$20 million in June
2011).
Flipkart.com, on August 24, 2012 announced the completion of its 4th round of $150 million
funding from MIH (part of Naspers Group) and ICONIQ Capital.
On average, Flipkart sells nearly 20 product per minute..