Company profile of Flipkart: One of the leading online selling stores

All of us love to do online shopping as in this tech world who does not want to get his/her work done while sitting comfortably at home? Shopping and buying necessities have been made less time consuming, less expensive and much easier and comfortable for us by online e-commerce platforms. It could not have been possible if these e-commerce platforms were not available. One of these major platforms is Flipkart which is grabbing a larger share of the e-commerce market. So let us now read some facts about the leading online selling store Flipkart and its co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.

Introduction

Flipkart is one of India’s leading e-commerce marketplaces. It was founded in October 2007 and its headquarters are in Bengaluru. It was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. This online venture was initially started as an online bookstore and as the popularity of the company grew, it expanded and diversified its operations.

It started selling other items such as music, movies, and mobile phones. As the revolution of e-commerce gained momentum in India, Flipkart grew at an accelerated pace and added several new product lines in its portfolio.

As of now, the company offers 80 million+ products spread across more than 80 categories such as mobile phones & accessories, computers and accessories, laptops, books and e-books, home appliances, electronic goods, clothes and accessories, sports and fitness, baby care, games and toys, jewelry, footwear, and the list goes on.

Flipkart has 100 million registered users and more than a million sellers on its electronic commerce platform. To ensure prompt delivery to its customers, the company has invested in setting up warehouses in 21 states.

Read:- List of the Top 10 FMCG Companies in India

This online platform attracts ten million page hits every day and around eight million shipments are processed every month. Flipkart has also introduced its mobile application, which has become quite popular, with 50 million+ app users. Flipkart is a billion dollar company and its valuation in 2016 was INR 15,129 crore (US$2.3 billion). It is also fulfilling its social responsibility by providing huge scale employments (employs more than 33,000 people).

Background History of Flipkart

Flipkart was originally started as an online book store in October 2007. To start Flipkart, the founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal left their jobs at Amazon and took a huge risk to start a venture of their own. When the founders thought of starting Flipkart as a company the market at that time was not so much vibrant and was not adapted to the e-Commerce sector that much.

This means e-commerce in India was mostly non-existent at that time and there was no certainty about its future. Still, the Bansals decided to take this risk and now it has turned out to be a huge success.

One of the major problems that Flipkart tackled during its initial years was online payments because at that time, people in India were averse to make online payments to a virtual store, due to fear of frauds and loss of money.

To deal with this issue, Flipkart launched its ‘Cash on Delivery’ service, which helped to build confidence among online buyers. It also made significant efforts to improve the supply chain system, which helped the company to ensure timely delivery to its customers.

Achievements of Flipkart

The company created a record by selling 1 lakh books in a single day in 2013. Flipkart crossed the 100 million mark in registered customers in 2016.

Flipkart achieved the Young Turk of the Year Award at CNBC TV 18’s “India Business Leader Awards 2012”.

Funding

Flipkart has received funds worth more than $ 4.5 billion, with the biggest funding in July 2014 worth $ 1 billion and in April 2017 worth $ 1.4 billion.

List of top investors in Flipkart includes Naspers, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global Management, DST Global, Accel Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, Baillie Gifford, GIC, Greenoaks Capital, ICONIQ Capital, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Qatar Investment Authority, and Sofina.

Acquisitions made by Flipkart

There is cut-throat competition in the e-commerce market and the biggest Rival of Flipkart is Amazon. In the recent years, many mergers and acquisitions have been witnessed in the e-commerce market and Flipkart has also made many acquisitions to expand its business and boost its sales and earnings.

The major acquisitions made by Flipkart include Myntra, eBay India, PhonePe, Jabong, Letsbuy(dot)com, WeRead, Mime360, chakpak(dot)com, Appiterate, FX Mart, and ngpay. It has recently acquired its former competitor Snapdeal. It has acquired Snapdeal at a cost of $ 950 million.

Competition: The major competitor – Amazon

After acquiring Snapdeal the major competitive left against Flipkart is Amazon India. Still, it is facing stiff competition from Amazon India because Amazon has really captured a larger share of the market.

Amazon Company profile is betting big on India’s e-commerce revolution and has recently captured an investment of $5 billion in Amazon India. The company has already received funds of $2 billion and $3 billion more are planned. Amazon India has been consistently expanding its customer base, which has resulted in cut-throat competition for Flipkart.

About the Founders of Flipkart:

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are the founders of Flipkart. Both of them are IIT (Indian Institue of Technology, Delhi) graduates. Both of them are from Chandigarh. Though they share the same last name, they are not relatives.

First, Sachin Bansal joined Amazon(dot)com and worked as a software engineer and later he got Binny Bansal to join it. But eventually, they both quit Amazon and decided to start a venture of their own. Thet decided to launch Flipkart.

Sachin Bansal is the Executive Chairman of Flipkart and Binny Bansal is at the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Flipkart.

Forbes India Rich List 2015 named Binny Bansal along with Sachin Bansal, the 86th richest person in India with a net worth of $1.3 billion.