There was a time when e-shopping meant Flipkart to Indians. But all that changed with the arrival of Amazon in India in 2013. Right from the beginning Amazon’s stress has been building on a customer centric company. And now the hard work is paying off. Indians are beginning to look at Amazon as an alternative. In fact, Amazon has had more hits on it’s website than Flipkart for the past year. The battle of Flipkart vs Amazon is just heating up for the giants but whatever maybe the result; the winner will be us getting products at the cheapest price possible. 😛
Before delving into the war, read about the rise of Flipkart from scratch to zenith.
Now let us make a comparison to understand the scenario better!
Ability to sustain loss over a longer time
Before discussing this, we need to understand that the e-commerce business in India is a long term investment with all companies running in a loss to capture the market. The outcome of this Flipkart vs Amazon battle hugely depends on which company can incur a loss for a longer period of time. In simpler words, the company with deeper pockets is going to be crowned as the king of e-commerce in India. Flipkart is at a disadvantage over here as the VCs are going to want returns on their investment at some point of time while Amazon can continue selling products at a discounted price for a longer time.
Just a case in point : Flipkart raised $1 billion from the market while Amazon announced $2 billion for the Indian market.
Customer Service
I have personally used Flipkart as well as Amazon to purchase products. From my personal experience I can say that Amazon’s customer service is far better than that of Flipkart. On seller fulfilled products, customers often have a lot of trouble in returning the products and getting their money back. Amazon’s A-Z guarantee ensures that you will get the money without much hassle. Moreover, to contact a Flipkart’s representative via phone, I have to wait and go through the entire menu before reaching where I want to be. Amazon’s call me feature works like a gem and I directly talk to the representative without having to deal with any crap. So that’s another ball in Amazon’s court in this Flipkart vs Amazon battle.
Logistics
Logistics is the most important factor for setting up an online retail store. Flipkart beats Amazon here because it ships most of it’s products via it’s own logistics arm, Ekart. While Amazon has also launched it’s own logistics arm, Amazon transportation services, the number of products delivered via it is very less compared to Ekart. Amazon has had to face many embarrassing situations due to delivery by courier partners. One also needs to remember that Amazon delivers to a larger area compared to Flipkart. A 50-50 battle!
Exclusive partnerships
Flipkart began the trend of having exclusive partnerships beginning with Motorola and then expanding. Amazon too got on the trend and has got exclusive rights to sell Yu and Redmi Note 3 phones. Both the companies has done well with the exclusive tie ups and there is no clear winner in this segment of the Flipkart vs Amazon battle. But the customers are the losers in this segment as we don’t get lower prices due to competition. Booh!
Low Prices and Discounts
It’s a known fact that everyone wants to buy things at the cheapest price possible. Both the e-commerce giants are pretty good at this and it is really difficult to pick a winner from this segment of the battle of Flipkart vs Amazon. The only issue is that Flipkart needs to give it’s users some time to check out the products which are already in the cart. When you purchase anything from an Amazon lightning deal, you get a checkout time of 15 minutes to complete your payment while on Flipkart you have no such time period. Both the companies have begun using flash sales. These two borrow so much of each other. Phew!
Also Read: 40 unbelievable facts about Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos
Overall User Experience
A quick visit to both of the sites will give you a basic idea of the overall user experience. On the Flipkart homepage itself you will be asked to input your number and almost forced to download their mobile app. Amazon doesn’t force itself down on it’s users. Flipkart has just realized the blunder they made by shifting to app only for mobile phones and have re-opened the mobile site. Amazon made a smart move by offering more discount on the app rather than forcing people to download their app. Another very useful feature with Amazon is the ability to deliver parts of an order to multiple places. Moreover, we Indians really love to have lots of options to choose from. Both Amazon and Flipkart have a large enough inventory to satisfy this criterion even though Amazon has the most number of products.
Case Study: The Great Indian Festive Sale vs The Big Billion Days Sale
During Diwali last year, the two biggies went head to head trying to lure the customers to their site. It was very difficult to pick a winner based on the discounts being offered by both the sites. Flipkart sold goods worth about $300 million. The numbers of Amazon are not far behind. But Amazon once again notched ahead due to its superior customer experience. Amazon had increased it’s logistics strength just for the purpose of this sale while Flipkart resorted to warning the buyers that there may be a delay in delivering the products due to heavy volume rush. Moreover, Flipkart’s site crashed due to the heavy load on it’s servers. These issues may not have cost them during the sale itself but they will harm them in the long run in this ultimate battle of Flipkart vs Amazon.
The story of Flipkart vs Amazon so far
In the initial days when Flipkart started, it used to deliver all possible goods within 2-3 business days and was gaining popularity in disrupting the offline retail chain. Then after Amazon entered India, the minimum shopping price went up from 299 to 499 for a free delivery. This became one of the main reasons for forcing customers to head to different e-commerce sites which finally played as an advantage for Amazon. Amazon also had the minimum price set to 499. But Amazon covered products from any seller that is fulfilled by Amazon whereas Flipkart used to do this on a per seller basis. This meant that if you have two products in cart, shipping applied to both separately. This also worked negatively for Flipkart and somehow gave it a setback in the Flipkart vs Amazon war.
Here is my final verdict
While Flipkart remains a biggie in the industry, Amazon’s arrival has increased the pressure on them big time. Amazon has already equaled Flipkart in terms of sale if not overtaken them. Flipkart needs to buckle up its customer service if it wants to stay in the competition. Having said that, I think both the companies will co-exist in the Indian market trying to woo the customers to them. As for expert advice: Shop till the frenzy lasts because one day even these two will look to make profits!
