flipkart.

com
COMPANY PROFI LE
Table of Content
1. Analysis of Market Environment
2. Company Overview
3. Business Model Analysis
4. Success Factors
5. SWOT Analysis
6. Porters Five Forces Analysis
7. Conclusions
8. References


Analysis of Market Environment
India is one of the worlds leading emerging markets, growing at a rate of 6-7% even through an era
of global economic downturn.
According to a survey conducted by Assocham, India's e-commerce market grew at a staggering
88% in 2013 to $ 16 billion, riding on booming online retail trends and defying slower economic
growth and spiralling inflation
India has Internet base of around 150 million as of August, 2013 and this number is increasing day
by day facilitating the growth of the online retailing.
It is estimated that in India, currently there are approximately 27 million active mobile internet users
and 4% are purchasing products via mobile internet which can go even 20% in coming years.
India is a big market and increasing living standard and internet usage is a major driver for
development of e retail in India.
Social networking sites like facebook, twitter, etc are playing a crucial role in influencing people for
buying products online. Many of the vendors are using that platform as strong tool for marketing as
well as sale.
Among all the categories, Apparel and Accessories segment witnessed the highest growth in
previous years
Company Overview: flipkart.com
Flipkart is one of the leading Indian e-commerce
companies established in 2007
The company has over 11 different categories, more than
2 million registered users and sale of 30,000 items a day
Among the top 20 Indian Web sites in terms of traffic
At the beginning, Flipkart focused on online sales of
books but it later expanded to electronic goods and a
variety of other products
It 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)
Headquarter Bangalore, Karnataka
Sales Turnover (2013) US $ 200 Million
Start Year
2007
Employees 4578 (aprox.)
Type of Site Online retail
Stand out point Flyte Digital Music Store
Company Introduction
Geographical Presence : Warehouses
Product Offerings
CDs and DVDs
Mobile Phones &
Accessories
Cameras
Computers
Computer Accessories
And Peripherals




Pens and Office Supplies
Home Appliances
Kitchen Appliances
Personal Care Gadgets
Health Care Products
Clothing and Accessories

4
Bangalore, Karnataka
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Kolkata, West Bengal



Mumbai, Maharashtra
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Pune, Maharashtra
Kochi, Kerala
Acquisition of Letsbuy.com,
India's second largest e-
retailer in electronics

Flipkart has bought the
company for an estimated US$
25 million
Acquisition of Weread
Flipkart acquired this social
book discovery tool for
providing Flipkart a social
recommendation platform for
buyers to make informed
decisions based on
recommendations from
people within their social
network

Acquisition of Mime360
Flipkart acquired Mime 360 a
digital content platform
company
Key Insights
Increase internet usage in the country and
people getting accustomed to making purchases
online
Flipkart was making operational losses on
transactions of books that accounted for 65% of
its sales volume and 40% of revenue.
Merger and Acquisitions
2010 2011
Acquisition of Chakpak.com, a
Bollywood news site that
offers updates, news, photos
and videos
Flipkart acquired the rights to
Chakpaks digital catalogue the
company also mentioned that
it will not be involved with the
original site and will not use
the brand name
2011
2012
Company Overview: flipkart.com
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Business Model Analysis: flipkart.com
Flipkart believes that the inventory model is out of trend and the
concept of Marketplace Model is now the
An online marketplace is a type of e-commerce site where product as
well as the inventory information is provided to customer by multiple
third parties, whereas transactions are processed by the marketplace
operator.
Under the Market Place Model, the company would not have its own
inventory rather buyers can deal with sellers directly and the delivery
will be done by Flipkart.
The company has on-boarded 50 sellers that are selling in books,
media, and consumer electronics categories. Clothes, shoes and
other categories are expected to follow soon.
The flipkart business model has following key points:
Users have COD/EMI options and return/replacement policies.
Flipkart takes care of shipping and doorstep delivery through its
logistics partners.
It is expected that there will be soon complaint resolving
program launched by Flipkart.
A good mass of online shoppers have an opinion that the user
experience that is product selection, customer service and
logistics is very smooth with variety of products.




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Success Factors: flipkart.com
First Mover Advantage
Flipkart enjoys the top-of-the-mind brand recall as far as buying books is
concerned. Other portals such as Uread and Dial-a-Book are still struggling to
register their presence into the consumers mind.
Cash on Delivery
This system simplified the online shopping as many people do not know how to
make payments online. People do not have immense trust in e-commerce also
got facilitated via this.
Strong Marketing Strategy
Flipkart has been mostly marketed by word of mouth advertising. Customer
satisfaction has been their best marketing medium. The company wisely used
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Ad-words as the marketing tools
to have a far reach in the online world
Congenial Purchase
Its not necessary to register on the website for buying products. The website
allows a user to purchase products as guest visitor too.
E-commerce Background
The founders are ex-Amazon employees, hence they are bringing in the required
expertise and skillset needed to run and grow an ecommerce portal.

SWOT Analysis: flipkart.com
Strengths
Monetary assistance provided.
Domestic market presence.
Skilled workforce.
Strong distribution and sales network.
Variety of product offerings.
Two VC investment to build its own delivery system thereby
reduce delivery time.
Cash on delivery which helps in making 60% of the
companys income
Innovation and technology competence.
Opportunities
Untapped mobile users
Coverage of all parts of India
Tie ups with Book fairs/education institutes.
Capturing untapped global markets
Self e-publishing








Weaknesses
No control over small value orders
Free shipping built costs
Less reach as compared to physical book stores.
Lack of global reach.
Competitive market
Lack of internet know how at many places in India















Threats
Small players are emerging as competitors
Small value orders in remote areas with high delivering costs
Major players like Amazon









.
S W O T
Porters Five Forces Analysis: flipkart.com
Supplier Power: Low

Large supplier base
The readers are reducing thus
weakening the suppliers position
Barrier to
Entry:
Low
High market
potential for this
industry
Low entry
barriers, but
sustaining is
tough

Competitive Rivalry
Medium
Many small players such as
Snapdeal and Naaptol
Entry of international giant
such as Amazon in India
Buyer Power:
High
Presence of multiple players
Few number of online shoppers

Threat From
Substitute:
Low
Traditional book
stores.
Advent of
electronic book
readers such as
I Pad and
Kindle.

Conclusion
The company was funded by the owners themselves with Rs 400,000,

Flipkart has since then 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)
The company registered high growth in sales and number of website visitors
Being a very new industry in Indian market almost every factor contributes to the key success of an
online book store.
The company changed its business model in February 2013, moving from online retail to the
marketplace model, in which third parties use its platform to sell products to the customers.
Flipkart India sold its technology platform and related intellectual properties to another entity
called Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd effective on 31 December 2012. The value of the sale of business to
Flipkart Internet was approximately Rs.94.15 crore, as suggested by its filings.
The strong marketing strategy, variety of products, on time delivery, cash on delivery, etc factors
are the major factors behind the rapid growth of the flipkart.
The operational loss was due to the investments the company was making in technology, supply
chain, logistics, customer support and marketing to scale up the business

References
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-new-
manager/article2507045.ece
http://www.sramanamitra.com/2010/10/04/building-indias-amazon-flipkart-ceo-sachin-
bansal-part-1/
http://www.cxotoday.com/story/indian-e-commerce-market-grew-at-88/
http://www.academia.edu/4120009/E-
COMMERCE_TRENDS_IN_THE_CURRENT_SCENARIO
http://www.flipkart.com/about-us
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipkart
http://swot.advisorgate.com/swot-f/14920-swot-analysis-flipkart-com.html
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/190213/indian-e-commerce-firm-flipkart.html
http://subscriber.hoovers.com/H/company360/overview.html?companyId=862603314
Many others