2. 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
Flipkart has grown into a online retail
giant in just five years.
3. 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.
Binny Bansal
(CEO,Flipkart.com)
Sachin Bansal
(Co-Founder
Flipkart.com)
4. 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 India’s 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 wouldn’t 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.
5. 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 we can be proud of.
Acoording to Sachin (CEO of Flipkart.com) at this point in our
life we can devote our entire time and energy to flipkart which
is very important for any startup….
6. 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’.
7. 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 don’t have an offline presence….
8. the journey of flipkart……after
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……!!
9. 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…
10. Growth trajectory of
Flipkart......
They started off in 2007 by setting up three centers
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 aim to touch the
mark by March 2013.
11. Current Position Of
Flipkart.com… added to their
Flipkart started with selling books. In 2010, they
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.
12. Acquisition made By
Flipkart.com
MIME260, a digital content platform
company.
Chakpak.com is a Bollywood news site
that offers updates, news, photos and
videos
Letsbuy.com is India's second largest
e-retailer in electronics.
Flipkart has bought the company for
an estimated US$25 million.
13. ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY
Thy have been featured in Business Today as one of the
top 25 startups of 2009.They were also nominated for.
Apart from that we 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%. We have also managed to get a registered buyer in
every small town and city. We hope to constantly improve
our service standards.
14. Companies latest
statistics…
Today, as per Alexa traffic rankings,Flipkart is among the
Indian Web sites and has been credited with being India's largest
online bookseller with over 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
15. Business results of
Flipkart.com
Flipkart's reported sales as follows:-
IN FY 2008–2009- >
IN FY 2009–2010- >
IN FY 2010–2011- >
IN FY 2011–2012- > Is set to cross the
As Internet usage in the country increases and
people get accustomed to making purchases
online.Flipkart projects its sales to reach
by year 2014. and is aiming at
generating a revenue of by
2015.