Flipkart

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Flipkart
Type 23
Foundation date 2007 (2007)
Area served India
Founder(s)
  • Sachin Bansal
  • Binny Bansal
Key people Sachin Bansal & Manish Verma
Industry Internet, Online retailing
Products Flipkart.com, Electronic Wallet, Mime360.com, Chakpak.com
Services Electronic commerce
Revenue Increase INR1180 crore (US$190 million) (FY 2012-13)[1]
Employees 4578
Slogan(s) The Online Megastore
Website Flipkart.com
Alexa rank positive decrease 154; 10: India (February 2014)[2]
Type of site Online shopping
Advertising yes
Registration Optional (required for buying Digital Content)
Available in English
Launched 2007 (2007)
Current status Online

Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company founded in 2007, by Sachin and Binny Bansal[3] and head-quartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. It is considered as the e-commerce company that made online shopping popular in India.[4][5] According to Alexa Internet, Flipkart's website is one of the top 10 Indian websites.[2] Flipkart has launched its own product range under the name "DigiFlip", offering camera bags, pen-drives, headphones, computer accessories, etc.[6][7]

History

Flipkart was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. They had been working for Amazon.com previously. The business was formally incorporated as a company in October 2008 as Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd.[8] During its initial years, Flipkart focused only on books, and soon as it expanded, it started offering other products like electronic goods, Air Conditioners, Air coolers, stationery supplies and life style products and e-books. The first product sold by them was the book, Leaving Microsoft To Change The World,bought by VVK.Chandra from Andhra Pradesh.[9][10][11] Flipkart now employs more than 4,500 people,[12] and is ranked among the top 10 Indian websites.[2] Flipkart's offering of products on Cash on Delivery is considered to be one of the main reasons behind its success.[4][5] Flipkart also allows other payment methods- Credit or Debit card transactions, net banking, e-gift voucher and Card Swipe on Delivery.[13]

Acquisitions

  • 2010: WeRead, a social book discovery tool.[14]
  • 2011: Mime360, a digital content platform company.[15]
  • 2011: Chakpak.com, a Bollywood news site that offers updates, news, photos and videos. Flipkart acquired the rights to Chakpak’s digital catalogue which includes 40,000 filmographies, 10,000 movies and close to 50,000 ratings. Flipkart has categorically said that it will not be involved with the original site and will not use the brand name.[16]
  • 2012: Letsbuy.com, an Indian e-retailer in electronics. Flipkart has bought the company for an estimated US$25 million.[17][18] Letsbuy.com was closed down and all traffic to Letsbuy have been diverted to Flipkart.[19]

Finance

Initially, the founders had spent INR4 lakh to set up the business.[20][21] Flipkart has later raised funding from venture capital funds Accel India (US$1 million in 2009)[22][23][24] and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 and US$20 million in June 2011).[25][26][27] On 24 August 2012, Flipkart announced the completion of its 4th round of $150 million funding from MIH (part of Naspers Group) and ICONIQ Capital.[28] The company announced, on 10 July 2013, that it has raised an additional $200 million from existing investors including Tiger Global, Naspers, Accel Partners and Iconiq Capital.[29]

Flipkart's reported sales were INR40 million in FY 2008–2009,[30][31] INR200 million in FY 2009–2010[32] and INR750 million for FY 2010–2011.[33] In FY 2011–2012, Flipkart is set to cross the INR5 billion (US$100 million) mark as Internet usage in the country increases and people get accustomed to making purchases online.[34] Flipkart projects its sales to reach INR10 billion by year 2014. On average, Flipkart sells nearly 20 products per minute[35] and is aiming at generating a revenue of INR50 billion (US$.81 billion) by 2015.[36]

On November 2012, Flipkart became one of the companies being probed for alleged violations of FDI regulations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999[37][38]

In July 2013, Flipkart raised USD 160 million from private equity investors, taking the total to USD 360 million in its recent fund raising drive to build and strengthen technology and bolster its supply chain. [39]

In October 2013, it was reported that Flipkart had raised an additional $160 million from new investors Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sofina SA and Vulcan Capital with participation from existing investor Tiger Global. With this, the company has raised a total $360 million in its fifth round of funding, the largest investment raised by an Internet company in India, emulating InMobi’s $200 million investment from Softbank in September 2011. The company valued at approx. INR9900 crore (US$1.6 billion) (Nov 2013), and plans to use the capital raised to improve its technology and supply chain capabilities, enhance its end user experience and for hiring.[40][41]

Flyte Digital Music Store

In October and November 2011, Flipkart acquired the websites Mime360.com[15] and Chakpak.com.[16] Later, in February 2012, the company revealed its new Flyte Digital Music Store.[42] Flyte, a legal music download service in the vein of iTunes and Amazon.com, offered DRM-free MP3 downloads. But it was shut down on 17 June 2013 as paid song downloads did not get popular in India due to the advent of free music streaming sites.[43][44]

Awards & Recognition

  • Co-Founder of Flipkart Sachin Bansal, got Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2012-2013 from Economic Times, leading Indian Economic Daily [45]
  • Flipkart.com was awarded Young Turk of the Year at CNBC TV 18’s ‘India Business Leader Awards 2012’ (IBLA).[46]
  • Flipkart.com- got Nominated for IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011.[47]
  • Flipkart.com, secured second position in the List of Cheapest Mobile Store 2013, compiled by Indian e-commerce observer Zoutons.com.[48]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dalal, Mihir (19 December 2013). "Flipkart India reports loss of Rs.281.7 crore". Mint (Bangalore). Retrieved 4 January 2014. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Flipkart.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-02-02. 
  3. ↑ "Flipkart Founders, Sachin and Binny Bansal, get million dollar paychecks". Economic Times. Retrieved 2013-11-16. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "How Flipkart changed India's online shopping market - Business Today". Businesstoday.intoday.in. 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "How Flipkart broke India's online shopping inertia". Hindustan Times. 2011-12-10. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  6. ↑ "Flipkart launches its own accessories digiflip". Thinkdigit.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  7. ↑ "Exclusive: Flipkart forays into private label, launches DigiFlip brand". NextBigWhat.com. 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  8. ↑ "Flipart Online Services Pvt. Ltd". tofler.in. 
  9. ↑ http://www.quora.com/Flipkart/Who-ordered-the-first-book-from-Flipkart-and-which-book-was-it
  10. ↑ "Flipkart goes for fashion branding - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  11. ↑ Geetika Rustagi (4 August 2010). "Now order your next mobile on Flipkart". Livemint. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  12. ↑ "About Us". Flipkart.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  13. ↑ Flipkart.com: Payments Retrieved 6 October 2012
  14. ↑ "Flipkart Buys Social Book Discovery Tool WeRead". VCCircle. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Nikhil Pahwa. "Flipkart Acquires Mime360; To Launch Digital Distribution Of Music, E-books, Games". medianama.com. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Flipkart Acquires Digital Content From Bollywood News Site Chakpak". VCCircle. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2011. 
  17. ↑ "Updated: It’s Official Flipkart Acquires LetsBuy.com". medianama.com. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2012. 
  18. ↑ "Flipkart Buys Letsbuy in Cash-Equity Deal". Business Standard. 11 May 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2012. 
  19. ↑ "Finally Dr. Flipkart.com declared patient Letsbuy.com dead.". Fivepoint5. Retrieved 31 May 2012. 
  20. ↑ Archana Rai (30 June 2010). "Flipkart: Country’s largest online bookstore". The Economic Times. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  21. ↑ Chirag Chamoli. "Interview With Binny Bansal Of Flipkart.Com". iamstarting.com. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
  22. ↑ "How much did Flipkart raise through Accel funding in Oct 2009?". Quora. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  23. ↑ Sengupta, Snigdha. "Is Accel Eyeing a 25X Partial Exit From Flipkart? : STARTUPCENTRAL". Startupcentral.in. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  24. ↑ Sinha. "Accel India Invests in Flipkart". pluggd.in. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
  25. ↑ "Flipkart Raises $150Mn From Accel Partners, Tiger Global". 31 January 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012. 
  26. ↑ Sudipta Datta; Suman Tarafdar (7 February 2010). "A Tale of Two Book Fairs". Financial Express. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  27. ↑ "Inlogistics: India's first private train cargo operator". CNBC-TV18. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  28. ↑ Yourstory.in. "Flipkart Raises Fourth Round of Funding; MIH and Inconiq Capital Take Minority Stake". 
  29. ↑ Jayadevan PK. "Flipkart Raises Fresh $200 mn from Existing Investors Tiger global, Naspers & Others". NextBigWhat. 
  30. ↑ "Cash on delivery". Business Standard. 19 July 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  31. ↑ Dua, Aarti (28 February 2010). "A winning chapter". The Daily Telegraph (Calcutta, India). Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  32. ↑ "Bibliofile:A Garage Takes Off". Outlook. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  33. ↑ "Flipkart may launch online marketplace on its website". Business Standard. Retrieved 23 July 2013. 
  34. ↑ "India's-amazon-flipkart-expects-sales-to-surge-10-fold-this-year". 
  35. ↑ Nikhil Menon (9 September 2011). "e-Commerce: Can the dotcom majors cope with their rising expectations?". The Economic Times (India). 
  36. ↑ Tyagi, Akshay. "How Flipkart Helped India Realise Its E-Commerce Dream!". The TechIRIS. Retrieved 26 May 2012. 
  37. ↑ ET Bureau. "Enforcement Directorate to probe Flipkart.". The Times Of India. 
  38. ↑ Staff reporter (28 November 2012). "Flipkart under ED scanner". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 
  39. ↑ moneycontrol. "Flipkart raises $160 mn in latest funding drive". 
  40. ↑ Vikas SN (2013-10-09). "Flipkart Raises $160M From Dragoneer Investment, Morgan Stanley Investment & Others". MediaNama. Retrieved 2013-10-25. 
  41. ↑ "Flipkart valued at roughly `9,900 crore, says MIH India". Livemint. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-27. 
  42. ↑ Lal, Abhinav (24 February 2012). "Flipkart to launch 'Flyte Digital Store' in March". Digit. India: 9.9 Media. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 
  43. ↑ "Exclusive: Flipkart to Shutdown Flyte MP3 Store; To Exit Digital Music Business". NextBigWhat. Retrieved 29 May 2013. 
  44. ↑ "Flyte MP3 Store Shutting Down". ThinkDigit. Retrieved 29 May 2013. 
  45. ↑ "ET Awards 2012-13: How IIT-alumnus Sachin Bansal built Flipkart into a big online brand". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 September 2013. 
  46. ↑ "Flipkart awarded at CNBC-TV18’s India Business Leader Awards 2012". Firstpost. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  47. ↑ "Flipkart.com-IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011". Mediavataar. Retrieved 10 February 2012. 
  48. ↑ "Comparative Study: Mobile Prices Indian E-Com Stores 2013". Zoutons.com. Retrieved 25 November 2013. 

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