is an Indian electronic commerce company headquartered in Bengaluru, India. Founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (no relation) in 2007, the company initially focused on book sales, before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, and lifestyle products.
The service competes primarily with Amazon’s Indian subsidiary, and the domestic rival Snapdeal.[5][6] Flipkart is significantly dominant in the sale of apparel (a position that was bolstered by its acquisitions of Myntra and Jabong.com), and was described as being “neck and neck” with Amazon in the sale of electronics and mobile phones.[7] Flipkart also owns PhonePe, a mobile payments service based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
In May 2018, Walmart announced its intent to acquire a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for $16 billion USD, subject to regulatory approval.
Flipkart was founded in October 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who were both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and formerly worked for Amazon.[8][9] The company initially focused on online book sales with country-wide shipping. Following its launch, Flipkart slowly grew in prominence; by 2008, it was receiving 100 orders per day.[10] In 2010, Flipkart acquired the Bangalore-based social book discovery service weRead from Lulu.com.[11]
In late-2011, Flipkart made several acquisitions relating to digital distribution, including Mime360.com[12] and the digital content library of Bollywood portal Chakpak.[13] In February 2012, the company unveiled its DRM-free online music store Flyte. However, the service was unsuccessful due to competition from free streaming sites, and shut down in June 2013.[14][15][16][17] In May 2012, Flipkart acquired Letsbuy, an online electronics retailer.[18] In May 2014, Flipkart acquired Myntra, an online fashion retailer, for ₹20 billion (US$310 million).[19]
In February 2014, Flipkart partnered with Motorola Mobility to be the exclusive Indian retailer of its Moto G smartphone.[20] Motorola also partnered with Flipkart on the Moto E—a phone targeted primarily towards emerging markets such as India. High demand for the phone caused the Flipkart website to crash following its midnight launch on 14 May.[21] Flipkart subsequently held exclusive Indian launches for other smartphones, including the Xiaomi Mi3 in July 2014 (whose initial release of 10,000 devices sold out in around 5 seconds),[22] the Redmi 1S and Redmi Note in late-2014 (which saw similarly accelerated sellouts),[23][24][25][26] and Micromax’s Yu Yunique 2 in 2017.[27]
On 6 October 2014, Flipkart held a major sale across the service that it promoted as “Big Billion Day”. The event generated a surge of traffic, selling US$100 million worth of goods in 10 hours. The event received criticism via social media over technical issues the site experienced during the event, as well as stock shortages.[28][29][30][31]
In 2015, Flipkart acquired Appiterate, a Delhi-based mobile marketing automation firm. Flipkart stated that it would use its technology to enhance its mobile services.[32] In October 2015, Flipkart reprised its Big Billion Day event, except as a multi-day event that would would be exclusive to the Flipkart mobile app. Flipkart also stated that it had bolstered its supply chain and introduced more fulfilment centres in order to meet customer demand.[33] Flipkart achieved a gross merchandise volume of US$300 million during the event, with the largest volumes coming from fashion sales, and the largest value coming from mobiles.[34]
In December 2015, Flipkart purchased a minority stake in the digital mapping provider MapmyIndia. The company stated that it would licence its data to help improve delivery logistics.[35] In 2016, Flipkart acquired the online fashion retailer Jabong.com from Rocket Internet for US$70 million, as well as the UPI mobile payments startup PhonePe.[36][37] In January 2017, Flipkart made a US$2 million investment in Tinystep, a parenting information startup.[38] Myntra continues to operate alongside Flipkart as a standalone brand, with a particular focus on an upscale, “fashion-conscious” market, while Flipkart’s in-house fashion offerings focus on the mainstream market and major international brands.[39]
In April 2017, eBay announced that it would sell its Indian subsidiary eBay.in to Flipkart and make a US$500 million cash investment in the company. eBay promoted that the partnership would eventually allow Flipkart to access eBay’s network of international vendors, and vice versa, but these plans never actually came to fruition.[40][41] In July 2017, Flipkart made an offer to acquire its main domestic competitor, Snapdeal, for around US$700-800 million. It was rejected by the company, which was seeking at least US$1 billion.[42]
Flipkart held a 51% share of all Indian smartphone shipments in 2017, overtaking Amazon India (33%).[43] Flipkart sold 1.3 million phones in 20 hours on 21 September alone for its Big Billion Days promotion, doubling the number sold on the first day of the event in 2016 (where it sold a total of 2.5 million phones in five days).[44]
On 4 May 2018, it was reported that the US retail chain Walmart had won a bidding war with Amazon to acquire a majority stake in Flipkart for US$15 billion.[45][46] On 9 May 2018, Walmart officially announced its intent to acquire a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion, subject to regulatory approval. Following the proposed purchase, Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal will leave the company, while the remaining management will report to Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart eCommerce US; Walmart president Doug McMillon cited the “attractiveness” of the market, explaining that their purchase “is an opportunity to partner with the company that is leading transformation of eCommerce in the market”.[47][48] In a filing with the U.S. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 11 May 2018, Walmart stated that “holders of 60% of the Flipkart shares held by the Minority Shareholders, acting together, may require Flipkart to effect an initial public offering following the fourth anniversary of closing of the Transactions at a valuation no less than that paid by Walmart”.[49][50]
Following the announcement of Walmart’s deal, eBay announced that it would sell its stake in Flipkart back to the company for approximately US$1.1 billion, and re-launch its own Indian operations. The company stated that “there is huge growth potential for e-commerce in India and significant opportunity for multiple players to succeed in India’s diverse, domestic market.”[40]
Business structure
In a report dated 25 November 2014, a leading media outlet reported that Flipkart were operating through a complex business structure which included nine firms, some registered in Singapore and some in India. In 2012, Flipkart co-founders sold WS Retail to a consortium of investors led by Rajeev Kuchhal.[51]
Initially, the two Bansals had spent ₹400,000 (US$6,100) only for making the website to set up the business.[52] Flipkart has later raised funding from venture capital funds Accel India (US$1 million in 2009)[53][54][55] and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 and US$20 million in June 2011).[56][57][58] On 24 August 2012, Flipkart announced the completion of its 4th round of US$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 US$200 million from existing investors including Tiger Global, Naspers, Accel Partners and Iconiq Capital.[59]
Flipkart’s reported sales were ₹40 million (US$610,000) in FY 2008–2009,[60][61] ₹200 million (US$3.1 million) in FY 2009–2010[62] and ₹750 million (US$11 million) for FY 2010–2011.[63] In FY 2011–2012, Flipkart is set to cross the ₹5 billion (US$77 million) mark as Internet usage in the country increases and people get accustomed to making purchases online.[64] Flipkart projects its sales to reach ₹10 billion (US$150 million) by year 2014. On average, Flipkart sells nearly 10 products per minute[65] and is aiming at generating a revenue of ₹50 billion (US$770 million) by 2015.[66]
On November 2012, the Enforcement Directorate began investigating Flipkart for alleged violations of foreign direct investment regulations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.[67][68]
Flipkart reported a loss of ₹2.81 billion (US$43 million) for the FY 2012–13.[69] In July 2013, Flipkart raised $160 million from private equity investors.[70]
In October 2013, it was reported that Flipkart had raised an additional US$160 million from new investors Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Sofina SA, and Vulcan Inc., with participation from existing investor Tiger Global.[71][72][73]
On 26 May 2014, Flipkart announced that it had raised US$210 million from Yuri Milner’s DST Global and its existing investors Tiger Global, Naspers and Iconiq Capital.[74]
In early July 2014, it was also highly speculated that Flipkart was in negotiations to raise at least $500 million, for a likely listing in the US for 2016.[75]
On 29 July 2014, Flipkart announced that it raised US$1 billion[76] from Tiger Global Management LLC, Accel Partners, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and a new investor, Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC.[77]
In December 2014, after it received $700 million from another funding, Flipkart had a market cap of $11 billion.[78]
On 20 December 2014, Flipkart announced filing application with Singapore-based companies’ regulator ACRA to become a public company after raising $700 million for long term strategic investments in India following which its number of investors exceeded 50. The $700 million fund raised by Flipkart added new investors—Baillie Gifford, Greenoaks Capital, Steadview Capital, T. Rowe Price Associates and Qatar Investment Authority—on company’s board. Its existing investors DST Global, GIC, ICONIQ Capital and Tiger Global also participated in this latest financing round.[79] As of May 2015, Flipkart had raised raised $550 million from some of its existing investors, in a deal that raised its total valuation to $15 billion.[80]
By August 2015, after raising another US$700 million, Flipkart had raised a total of $3 billion, after over 12 rounds and 16 investors.[81] In April 2017, Flipkart underwent another round of funding, with $1.4 billion at a valuation of $11.6 billion, including eBay, Microsoft, and Tencent.[82] On 10 August 2017, Softbank Vision Fund invested another US$2.5 billion in Flipkart.[83]
Regulatory action and lawsuits
In 2016, the Government of India informed the Indian Parliament that it had asked the Enforcement Directorate to investigate Flipkart Online Services. In August 2014, the Enforcement Directorate claimed that it had found Flipkart to be in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.[84]
On 30 November 2012, Flipkart’s offices were raided by the Enforcement Directorate. Documents and computer hard drives were seized by the regulatory agency.[85]
Delhi High Court observed violation of foreign investment regulations by E-Commerce firms including Flipkart.[86]
In January 2016, a public interest litigation came up for hearing which alleges Flipkart of contravention of foreign investment norms. The court asked the Reserve Bank of India to provide the latest circular on foreign investment policy.[87]
In January 2016, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) clarified that it does not recognise the marketplace model of online retail.[88]
In February 2016, Health Minister, J P Nadda, informed that the Maharashtra FDA had taken action against Flipkart, among others, for selling drugs without valid license.[89]
House brands
Flipkart maintains several house brands, including Citron (home appliances) and Digiflip (formerly for electronics and accessories).[90] In 2017, Flipkart launched additional brands, including Billion (smartphones),[91] Smartbuy (electronics accessories, effectively replacing Digiflip),[92] and MarQ (for large appliances, although its launch was faced with a trademark dispute with an existing company, Marc Enterprises).[93]
Criticism
On 13 September 2014, a Flipkart delivery boy allegedly molested a housemaid in Hyderabad.[94] The house maid’s employer has been fighting against Flipkart for justice on this issue, and also for making offline delivery services safe.[95]
On 6 October 2014 Flipkart launched a promotion called ‘Big Billion Day’ with the intention to increase the popularity of their website by targeting a billion sales in 1 day. This, even though Flipkart achieved the target, led to public outcry and widespread criticism among consumers, competitors and partners, heavily damaging its reputation. Many users could not place orders because of high server load and errors which led to frustration among customers.[96] Many users who placed orders received emails stating that their orders were cancelled.[97] Most of the products were sold for less than their cost, and Flipkart was accused of anti-competitive behaviour. Major competitors filed complaints against Flipkart with the Commerce Ministry, claiming that selling products lower than cost is against the commerce policy of the country.[98] The Ministry said that they would formulate new trade rules for electronic retail after this incident.[99][100]
Flipkart was criticised on the subject of net neutrality after their announced partnership with Airtel to use the Airtel Zero platform which would have made the Flipkart app free for Airtel Users. On 14 April 2015 Flipkart retracted its decision to use Airtel Zero platform.[101]
Sellers on Flipkart have been facing several challenges while doing their business on its marketplace portal, to the extent that some of them had to quit the portal. Some of these challenges include its unfair policies for sellers, lack of a competent logistics service and customer returns that are purely as a result of consumer fraud.[102]
Awards and recognition
In April 2016, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal were named to Time magazine’s list of The 100 Most Influential People.[103]
In September 2015, the two founders entered Forbes India Rich List debuting at the 86th position with a net worth of $1.3 billion each.[104]
Sachin Bansal was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year 2012–2013 from The Economic Times, a leading Indian economic daily newspaper.[105]
Flipkart.com was honoured as the Young Turk of the Year at CNBC TV 18’s “India Business Leader Awards 2012” (IBLA).
Source – WikiPedia
