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Don’t you think online buying and selling have become an essential part of our lives? It was youth and adults who initially relied on the internet to buy stuff at affordable prices with amazing return policies and guarantees, it was a trend back then.
Now, shopping online from eCommerce websites is no longer a trend but a practice that young and old engage in. When we are talking about the Indian eCommerce industry, the most popular eCommerce website in India, Flipkart's name should come right at the first.
Flipkart is the leading Indian eCommerce website founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007. The company is headquarted in Bengalururu, India. The market share of Flipkart Group was last recorded by RedSeer at a whopping 62% when it emerged as the leader during the festive sales.
This Indian eCommerce store has brought a revolution in the Indian e-retail industry. We will look at the success story of Flipkart and also learn more about its, founders, subsidiaries, parent organization, tagline, and more.
Flipkart - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Flipkart |
|---|---|
| Headquarter | Bengaluru, India |
| Sector | E-commerce |
| Founders | Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal |
| Founded | 2007 |
| CEO | Kalyan Krishnamurthy |
| Total Funding | $12.6 billion (January 2022) |
| Revenue | $5.83 billion |
| Valuation | $37.6 billion |
| Area Served | India |
| Parent Organization | Walmart |
| Website | flipkart.com |
Flipkart - Latest News
January 13, 2021 - Flipkart acquires Yaantra, a repair and refurbishing startup from Noida to boost the after-sale services for the customers of the platform, especially in the smartphone segment.
December 15, 2021 - Shopsy of Flipkart has forayed into the grocery segment. Launched in July 2021, this new wing of Flipkart will allegedly be a hub of over 6000 products across 230+ categories, which will be delivered in around 700 cities, spanning over 5,800 pin codes.
October 9, 2021 - Flipkart to focus more on its grocery segment, Shopsy to join the space in the next 3-4 months.
September 22, 2021 - Flipkart launches 'Flipkart Xtra,' which will help the company onboard part-time gig workers and delivery partners and help them grab flexible earning opportunities.
July 2, 2021 - Flipkart launches Shopsy to empower over 25 mn entrepreneurs of the country, who can leverage all the benefits of eCommerce without any investment.
Flipkart - About
Flipkart Acquires Walmart India - Flipkart Wholesale
Flipkart - Big Billion Sale Success
Flipkart - Founders and Team
Flipkart - Startup Story
Flipkart - Mission and Vision
Flipkart - Name, Tagline, and Logo
Flipkart - Parent Organization
Flipkart - Products/Services
Flipkart - Subsidiaries
Flipkart - Target Market Size
Flipkart - Business Model and Revenue Model
Flipkart - Partnerships
Flipkart - Funding and Investors
Flipkart - Growth and Revenues
Flipkart - Mergers and Acquisitions
Flipkart - Competitors
Flipkart - Future Plans
Flipkart - About
Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru, India. Since its launch Flipkart has only seen highs, selling a wide variety of products online like Amazon. Flipkart was acquired by Walmart, an American retail giant, for $16 billion in May 2018.
In the initial years, Flipkart focused on selling books but today the catalogue covers categories like electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries, and lifestyle products. More than 1 billion people have shopped using Flipkart, making the e-commerce giant the leading e-retailer in India.
Flipkart also has subsidiaries like Myntra, PhonPe, eBay, Ekart, Jeeves, and Jabong. Flipkart also launched Shopsy on July 2, 2021, which is designed to behave like an app that will encourage the nation's entrepreneurs to reap all the benefits of digital eCommerce that comes their way without investments. The app will have 0% commission from the sellers and will extend to around 200-500 million budget-friendly customers.
Today, Flipkart has over 100 million registered users, 100 thousand sellers, and 21 state-of-the-art warehouses. It also boasts about 10 million daily page visits and over 8 million shipments/month. Flipkart currently works as a subsidiary of Walmart. The current CEO of Flipkart Group is Kalyan Krishnamurthy.
Flipkart Acquires Walmart India - Flipkart Wholesale
Flipkart acquired a 100% stake in Walmart India, which operates the Best Price cash-and-carry business. Thus, launching Flipkart Wholesale. This step helped Flipkart strengthen its hold on Grocery/food and Fashion Business, which is stated to be highly competitive in this dynamic environment. The launch of Flipkart Wholesale will be initiated in August, thus piloting the services for the Grocery and Fashion categories.
"The Best Price operation will continue to run as it is. In terms of legal structure, currently Walmart India is a separate entity within the Flipkart Group", Said Sameer Aggarwal, CEO, Walmart India.
The role of Kirana Stores and MSMEs in India's retail ecosystem is vital. With a focus on meeting their needs, Flipkart Wholesale is all set to widen up opportunities at a significant value. By leveraging the expertise and knowledge, the team is breaking new norms and helping Indian Businesses to grow and succeed.
Earlier in 2018, Flipkart was acquired by Walmart for $16 Billion, which was the largest online e-commerce acquisition in the world till the present. Flipkart launched its wholesale unit with a presence in fashion and grocery categories.
“With the launch of Flipkart Wholesale, we will now extend our capabilities across technology, logistics and finance to small businesses across the country,” Said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group
At present, Flipkart Wholesale will be headed by Adarsh Menon (A veteran at Flipkart). In order to ensure smooth functioning and transition, Sameer Aggarwal (CEO, Walmart India) will remain with the company for a while.
Flipkart - Big Billion Sale Success
The delivery of around 1 crore shipments in 5 days of the Big Billion Day sale has created a lasting mark on the eCommerce industry. Flipkart has seen 10X growth from the last festive Big Billion sale. Out of the 1 crore, around 3.5 million deliveries were via Kirana Partners.
The number of crorepati sellers went up by 1.5 times and the number of lakhpati sellers had a 1.7 times rise.
In the Big Billion Days' sale of 2021, over 3.75 lakh sellers joined hands together to offer the best of products online to their customers via Flipkart. This helped the customers save a whopping Rs 11500 crore during the “biggest Indian sale ever. The platform witnessed around 110 orders placed per second that varied across various products including electronics, fashion, books, furnishing, etc, in its Big Billion sale of 2020.
Flipkart - Founders and Team
Flipkart was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in May 2007. Kalyan Krishnamurthy is the CEO of the company, who was appointed as the CEO of the company in January 2017, when he replaced Binny Bansal.
Sachin Bansal
Sachin Bansal is the co-founder of Flipkart. After obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from IIT Delhi, Sachin started with Amazon as a Senior Software Engineer after a brief stint at Techspan. He then left his job at Amazon and co-founded Flipkart.
In Flipkart, he managed the positions of CEO and Chairman before resigning in 2018 following Walmart's major acquisition of Flipkart, where the American multinational company acquired around 77% stakes in the Indian eCommerce company. Bansal eventually joined Navi and is serving as a Chairman at Navi. The net worth of Sachin Bansal is 130 crores USD.
Binny Bansal
An IIT Delhi alumnus, much like Sachin, Binny completed his Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering, after which he co-founded Flipkart. Binny Bansal was the COO and the CEO of Flipkart.
Sachin was the CEO since the inception of Flipkart and in 2016, Binny Bansal took over as the CEO while Sachin Bansal became the executive chairman of the company. However, Binny also resigned from Flipkart in 2018 due to personal misconduct allegations of Flipkart.
Bansal also served as the Group CEO of the organization. Binny has also served as a Board Advisor at Acko, Blackbuck, GreyOrange, Udhyam Learning, and more such companies. Binny Bansal is currently serving as a Co-founder and Executive Chairman at xto10x Technologies. The net worth of Binny Bansal is 130 crores USD.
Flipkart operates with an employee strength of 33,000 employees.
Flipkart - Startup Story
The IIT- Delhi graduates, Sachin and Binny Bansal were employees at Amazon when they began thinking of building their own company in India. Though Sachin was an employee working with Amazon for some time, Binny was referred to join the same by Sachin and the former appeared to be quite bored with the company.
It was like a "12 to 3 job or something" for Binny Bansal, who decided to quit the company as soon as Sachin and he emerged with the idea of establishing an eCommerce business.
Sachin and Binny started Flipkart as an online book store from a two-bedroom apartment in Bengaluru’s Kormangala area. They initially started with a funding of Rs 4,00,000 from their own pockets.
When Sachin and Binny received a positive response and success in selling books back in the year 2007, they planned to expand to electronics as well and by 2014, the company became one of India’s most valuable startups by reaching a valuation of USD 1 Billion.
When the duo founded Flipkart, online shopping in India was even a distant dream for them, but the hard work and consistency paid off and made Sachin and Binny into wildly successful entrepreneurs.
Rishabh Rathi
Flipkart - Mission and Vision
Flipkart's mission is "to provide delightful customer experience."
Flipkart's vision presently is "to become Amazon of India."
Flipkart - Name, Tagline, and Logo
The founders of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal wanted a name that could speak beyond books. Furthermore, they also wanted to name their company in such a way that it would be suitable for a wide range of product categories that could also be expanded in the future. Flipkart means ‘flipping things into shopping kart’.
The logo of Flipkart was changed twice. There have been several taglines that the company has gone through for different occasions. Some of the taglines are,
- Ab Har Wish Hogi Poori
- Abhi Nahi To Kabhi Nahi
- If it's trendy, its on Flipkart
- Be Trendy, Always
- Itne mein, Itnaaaa Milega
- Shopping ka naya address
- Ab Mehengaayi Giregi
Flipkart - Parent Organization
In August 2018, U.S.-based retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion, valuing the company at $20 billion. However, the stakes were further increased to 81.3% towards the end of the same year. Soon after the acquisition, one of the founders of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal left the company.
Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores.
Flipkart - Products/Services
Flipkart is India's leading eCommerce marketplace with over 80 million products across 80+ categories. Some of the products offered by Flipkart are electronics like laptops, tablets, smartphones, and mobile accessories to in-vogue fashion staples like shoes, clothing, and lifestyle accessories; from modern furniture like sofa sets, dining tables, and wardrobes to appliances that make your life easy like washing machines, TVs, ACs, mixer grinder juicers, and other time-saving kitchen and small appliances.
From home furnishings like cushion covers, mattresses, and bedsheets to toys and musical instruments, Flipkart got them all covered. You name it, and you can stay assured about finding them all here.
Flipkart - Subsidiaries
The subsidiaries of Flipkart are Myntra, PhonePe, Mallers, eBay, Ekart, Jeeves, Mech Mocha, Upstream Commerce, Ugenie, DSYN Technologies, AdIQuity Technologies, Jabong, ClearTrip, Shopsy, Yaantra, Liv.Ai, F1 Info Solutions and Services, Fx Mart, Appiterate, ngpay, Mime360, WeRead, Chakpak, and Sasta Sundar.
More than 1 billion people have shopped using Flipkart, making the e-commerce giant one of the most popular and trending e-retailers in India. Myntra continues to operate alongside Flipkart as a standalone subsidiary; the site focuses on an upscale, "fashion-conscious" market, while Flipkart itself focuses on the mainstream market and major international brands.
Subsidiaries of Flipkart are:
| Company | Acquisition/Launch Date |
|---|---|
| Yaantra | Jan 2022 |
| Sasta Sundar | Nov 2021 |
| Shopsy | July 2021 |
| ClearTrip | Apr 2021 |
| Mech Mocha | Nov 2020 |
| Upstream Commerce | Sep 2018 |
| Liv.ai | Aug 2018 |
| F1 Info Solutions & Services | Sept 2017 |
| eBay India | Apr 2017 |
| PhonePe | Apr 2016 |
| Jabong | July 2016 |
| Fx Mart | Sep 2015 |
| Ekart | Sep 2015 |
| Appiterate | Apr 2015 |
| DSYN Technologies | Apr 2015 |
| AdIQuity | Mar 2015 |
| Jeeves | 2014 |
| ngpay | Sep 2014 |
| Myntra | May 2014 |
| LetsBuy.com | Feb 2012 |
| ChakPak Digital Catalogue | Nov 2011 |
| Mime360 | Oct 2011 |
| Mallers | Oct 2011 |
| WeRead | Dec 2010 |
| Ugenie | Apr 2010 |
Flipkart - Target Market Size
Flipkart uses an undifferentiated targeting strategy, since people of all demography purchase items online which is available to everyone where the delivery is possible. National & Multinational ECommerce companies are giving neck-to-neck competition to each other, due to which their positioning is very important. Flipkart has positioned itself as a trustworthy and customer-friendly ECommerce brand.
The online retail industry market is of a size of around 60 billion USD. It is expected to reach 200 billion by the year 2026. The Indian and global e-commerce industry is on the verge of exponential growth, and the introduction of high-speed internet has fueled the process across the nation.
Before the pandemic, India was one of the most attractive eCommerce markets globally, expected to deliver 30% CAGR over a six-year time horizon, according to a report by RedSeer Consulting that projected the sector to record $160 billion in gross merchandise values (GMV) by 2022.
Flipkart - Business Model and Revenue Model
Flipkart works on a B2C business model i.e. Business to Consumer model. The company initially began with a direct consumer model wherein it sold books and some other products. Today, it has become a marketplace with a huge catalogue of products—right from FMCG to electronics and books. Flipkart claims it has over 80 categories and over a million sellers on board from all across India.
The company earns almost all of its operating revenues from the sale of goods.
Flipkart - Partnerships
Flipkart has seen a wide range of partnerships throughout the years it has been active. Some of the most prominent of its partnerships are:
- Flipkart started partnering with Authentic Brands to license and distribute Nautica in India in August 2019.
- The Indian eCommerce marketplace announced a strategic and commercial partnership with the Adani Group on April 12, 2021, to enhance its supply chain and logistics infrastructure.
- Flipkart partnered with Urbanic on September 8, 2021, to target young consumers across India.
- Flipkart started collaborating with the leading Indian kids' fashion brand, Hopscotch to strengthen its kids' fashion segment.
- The eCommerce major partnered with the Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur, with an aim to support and promote small businesses.
Purbalee Dutta
Flipkart - Funding and Investors
Flipkart has raised a total of $12.8 billion in funding over 26 rounds. The latest round Flipkart raised was brought $233 million for the company from its Singapore-based holding company. The company mopped the funds before two of its major sales – Flipkart TV Days and Big Bachat Dhamal.
The eCommerce giant raised its previous funding of $3.6 Billion on July 12, 2021, from a Corporate Round round led by GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Walmart, and other investors.
Flipkart started with an initial capital of $6000 in the year 2007. In 2008, Accel India, a venture capital firm, provided funding of $1 million. By the year 2012, Flipkart became a unicorn startup and South African Tec Major Naspers announced further funding of $150 million. After Flipkart acquired Myntra in the year 2014, it was able to raise a funding of $210 million from DST Global.
| Date | Stage | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 5, 2021 | - | $233 million | Flipkart Pvt. Ltd |
| July 12, 2021 | Private Equity Fund | $3.6 billion | Softbank Vision Fund, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC, Walmart |
| September 16, 2020 | Corporate Round | $62.8 million | Tencent |
| July 14, 2020 | Corporate Round | $1.2 billion | Walmart |
| December 3, 2019 | Corporate Round | $28.4 million | - |
| September 10, 2019 | Corporate Round | $217 million | Flipkart |
| September 4, 2019 | Secondary Market | $14.5 million | - |
| January 16, 2019 | Corporate Equity | $200.8 million | Flipkart |
| October 25, 2017 | Corporate Round | - | eBay |
| September 18, 2017 | Debt Financing | $133.9 million | SoftBank Vision Fund |
| August 10, 2017 | Secondary Market | $1 billion | SoftBank Vision Fund |
As of May 2015, Flipkart had raised $550 million from some of its existing investors, in a deal that raised its total valuation to $15 billion. 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.
In August 2018, US-based retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion, valuing it at $20 billion. This was further increased to 81.3% in the month of November of the same year. The acquisition was completed on 18 August 2018. Walmart also provided US$2 billion in equity funding to the company.
Flipkart raised around $3.6 billlion on July 12, 2021, from a round led by GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Walmart, and others in what is deemed to be one of the biggest financing rounds in the history of consumer tech businesses in India.
With this recent addition, Flipkart is looking to invest in people, technology, improve the supply chain, develop its infrastructure, digitize grocery stores, and further add to it.
Furthermore, this infusion also marked the return of SoftBank, which took its exit in 2018, when Walmart bought the company. Softbank is also in talks with the Bangalore-based company to pump in around $300-500 million in the upcoming months.
Flipkart was last valued at $37.6 billion, as of July 12, 2021, and was preparing for its upcoming public listing.
Flipkart - Growth and Revenues
From its bootstrapped beginnings to the success Flipkart is witnessing today proudly talks about its success. Though the company looked a bit shaky with the arrival of US-based Amazon in the Indian markets the danger is no more looming today with the assertion of Kalyan Krishnamurthy as the Group CEO and the acquisition of Walmart of Flipkart.
Flipkart India is currently leading the eCommerce site in India. The Walmart-owned Indian eCommerce company has also clocked an impressive 64% market share when last recorded during the festive sales in October 2021.
Both Flipkart India and Flipkart Internet posted growths of 25% and 32% in revenue from operations in FY21. The revenues of Flipkart Internet was reported to be Rs 7840 crores but its losses also increased by 49% to Rs 2881 crore. On the other hand, Flipkart India also witnessed a 25% increase in its revenue from operations, which is currently reported to be Rs 42941 crore, while its losses declines by 22% to Rs 2445 crore.
The eCommerce leader has managed to reduce its losses to INR 2,445.6 Cr, which is by 22%, in FY21 from INR 3,150 Cr in FY20.
The company started a unique feature of value preposition by offering 24 x 7 support to the customer. Flipkart charges a certain amount or percentage of commission from the sellers, which varies depending on the type of product and the kind of sales. This may range from 5% to 20% excluding the taxes and discounts.
Flipkart announced the launch of 'Flipkart Xtra' on September 22, 2021, which will serve as a new marketplace for the company that will onboard several part-time delivery partners from across the country. Furthermore, it will also help in offering flexible earning opportunities to individuals, service agencies, and technicians. Besides, this new marketplace is also designed to support Flipkart's supply chain to ensure faster and seamless delivery of products to Indian customers.
The new ‘Flipkart Xtra’ app will allow the delivery partners of the company to sign up from anywhere along with offering them the flexibility of choosing their preferred schedule to deliver shipments.
Launched in July 2021, the Shopsy app of Flipkart has only passed 100 days of its launch but claims to have garnered over 2.5 Lakh sellers and 51 Lakh users and is basking in its own success, as of October 9, 2021.
The social commerce venture of Flipkart has witnessed 35x growth of the pre-festive daily average, in the festive sale that is ongoing, as per 9th October 2021's reports. Shopsy witnessed 35x growth of the pre-festive daily average.
Furthermore, the company is also seeing around a 100x week-on-week growth on its social commerce model, which helps in assisted shopping, and charges commission from advertisements and sellers working through its platform. This is why the company is striving to get a bigger share in the grocery ecosystem in the upcoming months.
Here are some growth highlights of the brand at a glance:
- Flipkart is a market leader.
- It is one of the pioneering eCommerce marketplaces in the country.
- Flipkart presently boasts of having more than 375K sellers/resellers.
- The company is currently serving 150 million+ users in the country.
Flipkart - Mergers and Acquisitions
Flipkart has acquired more than 17 companies to date, as per the reports dated January 13, 2022. Flipkart most recently acquired repair and refurbishing startup Yaantra on January 13, 2022. Noida-based Yaantra has already proven expertise in product assessment and refurbishment and will be aiding to boost the eCommerce giant's recommerce business, thereby strengthening the after-sales offerings of the customers in the smartphones segment.
The company had acquired numerous companies among which the acquisition of a 100% stake in Walmart India in July 2020 and Upstream Commerce on Sep 9, 2018, are memorable along with its other acquisitions of Myntra, which it acquired in 2014, in a deal worth $300 million; Jabong, which it acquired for $70 million in 2016 and that of PhonePe. 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.
Flipkart - Competitors
The service competes primarily with Amazon's Indian subsidiary and the domestic rival Snapdeal. As of March 2017, Flipkart held a 39.5% market share of India's e-commerce industry. 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.
To list some of Flipkart's competitors, they would be:
- Etsy
- Amazon
- eBay
- Alibaba
- Myntra
- Paytm
- Snapdeal
Flipkart - Future Plans
Currently, both the founders, Sachin and Binny Bansal don’t serve Flipkart anymore but the brand continues to stand tall despite all the challenges. Flipkart has been one of the most prominent faces in the Indian startup ecosystem.
Flipkart has never been afraid of taking risks and that is one of its key advantages. From books to electronics and household products and whatnot, it has evolved a lot in the past 12 years and will continue to expand irrespective of the change in shareholders or competitors.
Walmart's major investment in Flipkart means better service and market presence for the latter. Advancement in e-commerce, a wider range of products, better products, and upgraded integrations with small businesses are just a small chunk of the innovations we can expect from Flipkart in the coming time.
After the latest fundraising and the addition of Softbank to its investors' list, Flipkart is readying for its upcoming public listing in 2022.
Sarika Anand
FAQs
Who is the owner of Flipkart?
Walmart, an American multinational retail corporation is the Parent Organisation of Flipkart. Flipkart was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007.
Who are the founders of Flipkart?
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal founded Flipkart in May 2007 in Bengaluru, India.
What is the origin country Flipkart?
Flipkart was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal and is headquarted in Bengaluru, India.
When was Flipkart founded?
Flipkart was founded in October 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.
Is Flipkart a product based company?
Yes, Flipkart is a product based company.
What is the tagline of Flipkart?
"Ab Har Wish Hogi Poori" is the tagline of Flipkart.
Where is the headquartess of Flipkart located?
Flipkart is headquartered in Bangalore, India.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Rishabh Rathi Date :-March 22, 2022 at 11:00AM