Have you heard about Big Billion Days?
In 2015, Flipkart started three-day Big Billion Days deal. In only three days, Flipkart sold worth $200 million products.
Another surprising fact is that during these three days, the sales of TVs and shoes exceeded the combined sales of all Indian retailers!
In this article, we will learn more about the innovative and marketing strategies that made Flipkart India’s #1 ecommerce platform.
Click here to know about Flipkart company profile.
2. FAQs about Flipkart Company
1) When was Flipkart established?
Flipkart was established in 2007, Bangalore (India)
2) What is the name of Flipkart parent organization?
Flipkart parent company is Walmart
3) Who is the owner of Flipkart?
Sachin Bansal is Flipkart owner
4) What is Flipkart strategy in India?
Flipkart heavily relies on acquisition strategy to scale product categories and services
5) Which key business strengths make Flipkart so successful, and what are Flipkart’s weaknesses?
To know about the Flipkart strengths and weaknesses, click here.
3. Flipkart Marketing Strategy
We apply 7-P marketing mix framework to analyze the Flipkart marketing strategies.
3.1. Flipkart product strategy
3.1.1. Flipkart product mix
Flipkart offers an online platform from where customers can purchase products of different categories, like:
In future, Flipkart aims to become India’s most comprehensive online financial services platform as well.
3.1.2. Flipkart product strategy focus
Flipkart product strategy mainly focuses on speed, convenience, and quality (through strict quality checks).
Flipkart offers four core value propositions to its customers:
• Convenience
• Accessibility
• Risk reduction
• Brand/status
3.1.3. Flipkart product expansion strategy
Flipkart primarily depends on the acquisition strategy to expand the product categories, and scale up its services. Here is the list of startup firms that Flipkart acquired to expand its product line:
These all acquisitions enabled Flipkart to diversify its profit portfolio, and expand geographically.
3.1.4. Flipkart total product categories
Flipkart offers more than 80 million products across 100+ categories. Around 420,000 sellers sell their products through Flipkart. The wide product range meets the needs of diverse customers.
3.1.5. Flipkart segmentation, targeting and positioning
| Segmentation | All internet users and shoppers |
| Targeting | Middle and upper middle income shoppers, with busy schedules, having no time for shopping Flipkart customer demographic analysis based on web visits- 66.35% males, 33.65% females; largest age group- 25 to 34 years’ old |
| Positioning | A customer-friendly, convenient and trustworthy one-stop online store |
3.1.6. Flipkart unique selling proposition
Convenient access to a wide product variety with quick delivery.
The success of Flipkart’s product strategy reflects in company’s market share. Flipkart leads the market by holding 48% market share, while, Amazon holds 47% share in Indian e-commerce industry.
3.1.8. Key lessons learned
• Be customer centric
• Develop a clear unique selling point that meets the target customers’ needs
• Expand and scale up the product categories through successful strategic acquisitions
• Offer wide product range, along with convenient access
• Offer high value proposition to customers
3.2. Flipkart price strategy
3.2.1. Dynamic pricing strategy
Flipkart charges dynamic pricing strategy. It means the product prices are not fixed, but depend on various factors, like- competition, demand and supply patterns and market trends.
3.2.2. Pricing tactics
Flipkart heavily depends on the promotional discounts and deals to boost the sales. However, excessive pricing discounts negatively affect the Flipkart’s profit margins.
For instance, from 2021 to 2022, Flipkart’s operating revenue increased by 1.3X, but its total loss increased by 1.5X, showing Flipkart’s expenses exceed the revenue.
In an attempt to widen the market reach, DO NOT lower prices to the extent that business may start making losses!
Despite offering heavy discounts, Amazon still wins by offering better deals. Have a look on Amazon-Flipkart pricing comparison:
3.2.3. Flipkart-Amazon pricing comparison
Flipkart charges lesser shipping charges than Amazon.
Flipkart standard shipping charges:
Source: Flipkart
Above are the standard shipping rates. Here, are Flipkart-Plus shipping charges:
• Free below Rs. 500 worth orders
• Rs. 40 above Rs. 500 worth orders
Now take a look at Amazon India’s shipping fee:
Source: Amazon India
Although, Flipkart charges lower shipping fee than Amazon, however, an overall price comparison suggests that Amazon is cheaper than Flipkart in terms of giving best deals.
Take an example of books available on both sites:
A research on 800 books available on both sites generated following results:
Source: Towards Data Science
The findings showed that 45% of the times, Amazon offers cheaper deals than Flipkart.
Overall, Flipkart pricing strategy needs improvement. It is causing losses, and does not provide a competitive edge over its rival- Amazon.
3.2.4. Key lessons learned
• Choose a pricing strategy that benefits both- business as well as customers
• Keep an eye on competitors
• Offer better value to customers than competitors
3.3. Flipkart place strategy
3.3.1. Intensive distribution strategy
Flipkart adopts intensive distribution strategy. The company’s primary focus remains on reaching as many customers as possible to boost the sales.
3.3.2. Flipkart hub-and-spoke model
Flipkart adopts hub-and-spoke model. The company has 66 warehouses, spread across 12 states.
Here, we have visualized the Flipkart’s hub-and-spoke model:
• Flipkart delivery network covers all- tier 1, tier 2, tier 3 cities, and major rural areas. As per Business Today, Flipkart delivers 100% serviceable pin-codes in India.
• Flipkart has fulfilment centers located in Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Kolkata and West Bengal.
3.3.3. Warehouse automation
Flipkart is heavily investing on the state-of-art technologies (IoT powered automated conveyor belts, AI and robotics, tracking solutions, IT-based packaging, and digital inventory management system) to improve the operational efficiency. As per Business Insider, Flipkart has successfully reduced turnaround movement by 35% to 50% by deploying automation technologies.
Flipkart has recently partnered with Adani Group to build its supply chain infrastructure, and enhance its distribution efficiency.
3.3.4. Flipkart-Amazon comparison
• Flipkart has wider reach in India than Amazon
• Amazon is comparatively more popular than Flipkart in Indian’s main cities
• While, Flipkart is more popular than Amazon in sub-urban and rural areas
As per India Times, around 52% of the Flipkart customers are located in tier-2 and tier 3 cities.
3.3.5. Key lessons learned
• Invest on latest technologies, and develop Hi-tech warehouses
• Expand the presence to urban as well as rural areas
• Develop a strong network of fulfilment centers that could act as the backbone for overall business operations
3.4. Flipkart promotion strategy
Flipkart promotional strategy aims at gaining strong foothold in tier 2, tier 3 cities and rural areas. Flipkart’s penetration in tier 2 and tier 3 cities could be majorly attributed to effective advertising and promotional strategies.
3.4.1. Flipkart promotional mix
Flipkart adopts aggressive advertising and promotion strategy to promote its brand. Its promotional mix includes:
3.4.2. TV and Print advertising
Flipkart smartly uses the TV advertisements to boost the sales. The company has introduced memes in TV advertisements to engage the audience in a humorous way:
Flipkart also uses print advertising by displaying full page ads in famous magazines and newspapers. Here is an example of Flipkart newspaper advertisement:
Source: Exchange for Media
3.4.3. Flipkart digital marketing
Digital marketing is the most important component of Flipkart’s promotional mix:
• By using App marketing, Flipkart sends pop up messages through its app to communicate the latest offers
• The company also dedicated ads to the customers by using data mining
• Flipkart has active presence over different social networking sites. The company actively engages the customers through social media by arranging interesting activities and contests.
• For instance, Flipkart launched daily trivia quiz over social media.- Trivia quiz gave participants a chance to win gifts and discounts:
3.4.4. Promotional campaigns
Flipkart is known for its highly popular promotional sales, like Big Billion Day, Big freedom sale, and deals of the day.
• When Flipkart introduced Big Billion Days, deal, it rose the revenue of its parent company- Walmart by 13.3%.
• India ka Fashion Capital and Munna Bhai and Circuit are also highly successful advertising campaigns that increased the brand awareness among young shoppers, and created a WOM about brand.
3.4.5. Celebrity endorsement and influencer marketing
Flipkart heavily uses the influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements to benefit from the fan following of hired influencers/celebrities. Flipkart has hired big celebrities like- Deepika, Amitabh Bachan, Kohli, Alia Bhatt, Dhoni and Mahesh Babu to promote its big billion sale.
In 2018, Flipkart paid ₹ 20-40 crore celebrity endorsement fee, driving company’s overall media expenditure above ₹ 200 crore
3.4.6. Outdoor promotions
Flipkart also invests on the outdoor promotions. Here is a humorous example of how Flipkart and Snap Deal use billboard advertising in a humorous and taunting way:
Source: Economic Times
3.4.7. Loyalty programs
Flipkart Plus is a premium membership program that offers privileges to the members, like- more discounts, quicker delivery, early sales access, and superior customer support.
Approx. 30% of Flipkart active customers now use Flipkart Plus. Flipkart Plus is attained 100% y-o-y growth.
3.4.8. Branded packaging
Flipkart uses branded packaging to enhance the brand visibility:
3.4.9. CSR as a brand building tool
In 2022, Flipkart established Flipkart foundation. The foundation is responsible to empower the under-privileged and unskilled sections of society.
Above is just one example. Flipkart actively invests on such corporate social responsibility initiatives, and uses them as a tool to build positive brand image.
3.4.10. Key lessons learned
• Invest on promotional strategies that work best with target customers.
• Use multiple promotional channels to maximize the customer engagement
• But, make sure that each promotional channel sends consistent brand message!
3.5. Flipkart people strategy
3.5.1.Flipkart number of employees 2023
Flipkart has 15,000 employees, out of which 70% are full-time employees, and rest 30% are part-time workers.
3.5.2. Flipkart people management strategy
• Flipkart management adopts an approachable and empathetic leadership style.
• Management inculcates an environment of inclusivity to meet the needs of diverse workforce
• The empathy and people first approach enables the Flipkart to meet the needs of both- internal and external stakeholders
3.5.3. Flipkart customer service
However, despite the customer-centricity, Flipkart fails to provide efficient customer service. Its post-purchase customer service needs improvement in various areas, like:
• Unclear return policies
• Warranty issues
• Refund problems etc.
3.5.4. Key lessons learned
Good post-purchase customer service is highly important, as it directly influences the customers’ brand loyalty.
3.6. Flipkart process strategy
3.6.1. Flipkart process mapping
Following map visualizes the overall process that a customer gets through while shopping through Flipkart:
3.6.2. Flipkart process efficiency
The process smoothness is deemed critical for success in ecommerce industry. Flipkart has taken various initiatives to enhance process efficiency. For instance:
• Flipkart has introduced its app, and has launched its lite version as well. Flipkart lite offers seamless shopping experience, even at slow network.
• To improve the shopping experience for customers, Flipkart has recently collaborated with Microsoft to develop Flipkart Windows 10 app. The new app has made browsing and shopping process easier on both- touch and non-touch screens.
3.6.3. Key lessons learned
Focus on continuous innovation, and offer smooth online shopping experience to drive customer engagement.
3.7. Flipkart physical evidence
3.7.1. Flipkart tangible cues
Flipkart website, mobile app aesthetics, web interface, delivery boxes, and packaging- all provide tangible cues about the Flipkart.
3.7.2. Strategies to improve the physical evidence
Flipkart keeps taking initiatives to enhance the physical evidence. Like:
• Company has developed a user-friendly interface for its app that engages the users, and optimizes their online shopping experience:
Source: Indian Express
• Flipkart has started using paper packaging in an effort to reduce the plastic waste, and provide a tangible cue to reflect brand’s commitment to sustainability.
3.7.3. Key lessons learned
Investment on physical evidence is crucial to build the brand, and reflect core brand values (like quality and sustainability)
4. Recommendations based on Flipkart marketing strategy
• Expand product categories through acquisitions and partnerships
• Offer superior value to customers by offering better pricing deals
• Avoid lowering price to the extent that it may affect the profitability
• Keep investing on automation to enhance warehouse efficiency
• Focus more on digital and social media marketing to boost customer engagement
• Improve post-purchase customer service
• Keep investing on latest technologies to optimize online shopping process for customers
5. Conclusion of Flipkart marketing strategy
Flipkart marketing strategy has played a critical role in making the brand so successful. The company has adopted effective product, distribution, well-integrated promotion and process strategies. However, Flipkart needs to improve its pricing and people strategies to enhance the marketing strategy effectiveness.
Read our article ‘Flipkart SWOT analysis’ to know more about the company’s strengths and weaknesses. Find on benheine.com original news articles about e-marketing, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, finance, copywriting, technology, education, content creation, video making, photography, art, web design, productivity, writing, informatics and more! Submit your guest post and news articles by emailing info@benheine.com.
Abstract
This article presents an in-depth analysis of the Flipkart marketing strategies. The analysis covers all key marketing aspects, including-company’s product, pricing, distribution, and promotion strategies, key competitors, segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy, the challenges in executing the marketing strategy, and recommendations about how Flipkart can enhance effectiveness of its marketing strategies.
Strategic management students, researchers, teachers, and business practitioners may read the article to- analyze ecommerce industry trends, understand ecommerce consumer behavior, and identify marketing strategies that lead the ecommerce tech giants like Flipkart towards success.
6. References
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Tnn. (2021, June 17). Over 52% of Flipkart consumers belong to tier-II, III cities. The Times of India.
Mishra, A. (2018, October 12). Donning Navratri ‘jackets’, newspapers hopeful of a cheerful festive season. Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – Exchange4media.
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