A

PROJECT REPORT
ON
A Study of Online Shopping Preference with Reference to
Flipkart
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of

Bachelor of Business Administration

NOIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY,
GAUTAM BUDH NAGAR

Submitted by
Under the Guidance of
Kunal Tanwar
Dr. Shiv Kumar
BBA-VI Sem.

Roll No: SM/BB/1501/079

Session 2015 – 18

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 NOIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

To Whom It May Concern

I Kunal Tanwar, Roll No. SM/BB/1501/079 from BBA-VI Sem of the School of Business
Management hereby declare that the Dissertation Report BBA entitled A Study of Online
Shopping Preference with Reference to Flipkart is an original work and the same has not
been submitted to any other Institute for the award of any other degree. A presentation of the
Project Dissertation Report was made on and the suggestions as approved by the faculty were
duly incorporated.

DATE: Signature of the Student

Certified that the Dissertation Report submitted in partial fulfilment of Master of Business
Administration (BBA) to be awarded by Noida International University, Gautam Budh Nagar
(U.P.) by Kunal Tanwar, Roll No. SM/BB-H/1501/079has been completed under my
guidance and is Satisfactory.

DATE:
SIGNATURE OF GUIDE
Dr. Shiv Kumar

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In this project report I have made an honest and dedicated attempt to make the research
material as authentic as it could. And I earnestly hope that it provides useful and workable
information and knowledge to any person reading it.

This study even internal part of our BBA Program and to do this project in a short period was
a heavy task. Intention, dedication, concentration and hard work are very much essential to
complete any task. But still it needs lot of support, guidance assistance, co-operation of
people to make it successful. I thank to Dr. Shiv Kumar and all the people who supported
me to complete this research report.

During this small time frame of three months in which the project reached its completion,
there were a few people whom I would like to make a mention of and without whose help the
project would have never seen the light of day.

Kunal Tanwar

BATCH: - 2015-18

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 CONTENTS

S.No. Topic Page no.

1. INTRODUCTION 6-40

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 42

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 44-45

4. LITERATURE REVIEW 47-48

4. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 50-73

5. LIMITATIONS, CONCLUSIONS, WHAT DID I 75-79

LEARN, RECOMMENDATIONS,
SUGGESTIONS

6. KEY FINDING 81

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 83

8. ANNEXURE 85-86

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INTRODUCTION

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 INTRODUCTION

What is marketing strategy?

“Consumers do not buy what you sell. They buy what has value to them.”
Marketing strategy has the fundamental goal of increasing sales and achieving a
sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategy includes all basic, short-term, and
long-term activities in the field of marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial
situation of a company and the formulation, evaluation and selection of market-
oriented strategies and therefore contributes to the goals of the company and its marketing
objectives.

Strategic marketing is a philosophy that leads to the process by which organizations, groups
and individuals obtain what they need and want by identifying value, providing for it,
communicating it and delivering it to others. The basic concept of marketing is customer’s
needs, wants and values; products, exchange, communication and relationship. Marketing is
strategically concerned with the direction and scope of long-term activities performed by the
organization to obtain a competitive advantage. The organization applies its resources within
a changing environment to satisfy customer needs while meeting stakeholder expectation.

Definition

1. “Marketing strategy is consistently located and coordinated set of marketing actions, aimed at
meeting the long term marketing goal.” – PRANULIS (2008)

2. “A marketing strategy is a process or model to allow a company or organization to focus

limited resources on the best opportunities to increase sales and thereby achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage.”

Why does marketing strategy matter?

“Marketing strategy allows you to use pathways and footholds that apply your limited
marketing budget more effectively.”

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 In marketing, there is strategy and there are tactics. A lot of marketing, in practice, is
preoccupied with what I call tactical experimentation. This is the act of throwing all kinds of
things out at the world or at broad demographic targets to see what works. As you do this you
are spending money, potentially lots of it. The idea in this method is to do this until you find
some marketing actions that work, and when you find them you can then do more of those.

This process often results in the classic Wanamaker dilemma—”Half the money I spend on

advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” He was speaking of
advertising, but the principle applies.

Marketing strategy allows you to use pathways and footholds that apply your limited
marketing budget more effectively (everyone’s marketing budget is limited). Marketing
strategy facilitates your ability to apply marketing money to the correct half of the
Wanamaker equation—the half you are not wasting on audiences who do not value your
message.

To illustrate this principal with one of our own rather straightforward examples, when we
looked at the South Bronx as a marketplace for the Bronx Museum, the situation we saw was
reflected by the first competitive advantage diagram below; here, there is nothing in their
offer, as understood by the consumer, that is of any perceived value. The strategy, therefore,
could not be to simply support the institutional desire to communicate about all the great art
that was on exhibit

Marketing strategy vs. marketing managements

The distinction between “strategic” and “managerial” marketing is commonly used to

distinguish "two phases having different goals and based on different conceptual tools.
Strategic marketing concerns the choice of policies aiming at improving the competitive
position of the firm, taking account of challenges and opportunities proposed by the
competitive environment. On the other hand, managerial marketing is focused on the
implementation of specific targets."

Importance of Marketing Strategy

 Marketing strategy provides an organization an edge over its competitors.

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 Strategy helps in developing goods and services with best profit making potential.

 Marketing strategy helps in discovering the areas affected by organizational growth

and thereby helps in creating an organizational plan to cater to the customer needs.

 It helps in fixing the right price for organization’s goods and services based on
information collected by market research.

 Strategy ensures effective departmental co-ordination.

 It helps an organization to make optimum utilization of its resources so as to provide a

sales message to its target market.

 A marketing strategy helps to fix the advertising budget in advance, and it also
develops a method which determines the scope of the plan, i.e., it determines the revenue
generated by the advertising plan.

A marketing strategy is designed by:

1. Choosing the target market: By target market we mean to whom the organization
wants to sell its products. Not all the market segments are fruitful to an organization. There
are certain market segments which guarantee quick profits, there are certain segments which
may be having great potential but there may be high barriers to entry. A careful choice has to
be made by the organization. An in-depth marketing research has to be done of the traits of
the buyers and the particular needs of the buyers in the target market.

2. Gathering the marketing mix: By marketing mix we mean how the organization
proposes to sell its products. The organization has to gather the four P’s of marketing in
appropriate combination. Gathering the marketing mix is a crucial part of marketing task.
Various decisions have to be made such as -
 What is the most appropriate mix of the four P’s in a given situation

 What distribution channels are available and which one should be used

 What developmental strategy should be used in the target market

 How should the price structure be designed

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Developing a marketing strategy

Strategic planning typically begins with a scan of the business environment, both internal and
external, which includes understanding strategic constraints. It is generally necessary to try to
grasp many aspects of the external environment, including technological, economic, cultural,
political and legal aspects. Goals are chosen, then a marketing strategy or marketing plan.
This is an explanation of what specific actions will be taken over time to achieve the
objectives. Plans can be extended to cover many years, with sub-plans for each year.
Although, as the speed of change in the merchandising environment quickens, time horizons
are becoming shorter. Ideally, strategies are both dynamic and interactive, partially planned
and partially unplanned, to enable a firm to react to unforeseen developments while trying to
keep focused on a specific pathway; generally, a longer time frame is preferred. There are
simulations such as customer lifetime value models which can help marketers conduct "what-
if" analyses to forecast what might happen based on possible actions, and gauge how specific
actions might affect such variables as the revenue-per-customer and the churn rate. Strategies
often specify how to adjust the marketing mix; firms can use tools such as Marketing Mix
Modelling to help them decide how to allocate scarce resources for different media, as well as
how to allocate funds across a portfolio of brands. In addition, firms can conduct analyses of
performance, customer analysis, competitor analysis, and target market analysis. A key
aspect of marketing strategy is often to keep marketing consistent with a company's
overarching mission statement.

Marketing strategy should not be confused with a marketing objective or mission. For
example, a goal may be to become the market leader, perhaps in a specific niche; a mission
may be something along the lines of "to serve customers with honour and dignity"; in
contrast, a marketing strategy describes how a firm will achieve the stated goal in a way
which is consistent with the mission, perhaps by detailed plans for how it might build a
referral network, for example. Strategy varies by type of market. A well-established firm in a
mature market will likely have a different strategy than a start-up. Plans usually involve
monitoring, to assess progress, and prepare for contingencies if problems arise. You should
also write a marketing strategy when starting your own business.

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 The customized target strategy

The requirements of individual customer markets are unique, and their purchases sufficient to
make viable the design of a new marketing mix for each customer. If a company adopts this
type of market strategy, they design a separate marketing mix for each customer.

The differentiated strategy

Specific marketing mixes can be developed to appeal to all/some of the segments when
market segmentation reveals several potential targets.

Diversity of marketing strategy

Marketing strategies may differ depending on the unique situation of the individual business.
However, there are a number of ways of categorizing some generic strategies. A brief
description of the most common categorizing schemes is presented below:

Strategies based on market dominance

In this scheme, firms are classified based on their market share or dominance of an industry.
Typically there are four types of market dominance strategies:[9]

 Leader
 Challenger

 Follower

 Nicher

Entrant strategies
According to Lieberman and Montgomery, every entrant into a market – whether it is new or
not – is classified under a Market Pioneer, Close Follower or a late follower.

Pioneers

Market Pioneers are known to often open a new market to consumers based off a major
innovation. They emphasize these product developments, and in a significant amount of
cases, studies have shown that early entrants – or pioneers – into a market have serious

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market-share advantages above all those who enter later. Pioneers have the first-mover
advantage, and in order to have this advantage, businesses must ensure they have at least one
or more of three primary sources: Technological Leadership, Preemption of Assets or Buyer
Switching Costs. Technological Leadership means gaining an advantage through either
Research or Development or the “learning curve”. This lets a business use the research and
development stage as a key point of selling due to primary research of a new or developed
product. Preemption of Assets can help gain an advantage through acquiring scarce assets
within a certain market, allowing the first-mover to be able to have control of existing assets
rather than those that are created through new technology. Thus allowing pre-existing
information to be used and a lower risk when first entering a new market. By being a first
entrant, it is easy to avoid higher switching costs compared to later entrants. For example,
those who enter later would have to invest more expenditure in order to encourage customers
away from early entrants). However, while Market Pioneers may have the “highest
probability of engaging in product development” and lower switching costs, to have the first-
mover advantage, it can be more expensive due to product innovation being more costly than
product imitation. It has been found that while Pioneers in both consumer goods and
industrial markets have gained “significant sales advantages”, they incur larger disadvantages
cost-wise.

Close followers

Being a Market Pioneer can more often than not, attract entrepreneurs and/or investors
depending on the benefits of the market. If there is an upside potential and the ability to have
a stable market share, many businesses would start to follow in the footsteps of these
pioneers. These are more commonly known as Close Followers. These entrants into the
market can also be seen as challengers to the Market Pioneers and the Late Followers. This is
because early followers are more than likely to invest a significant amount in Product
Research and Development than later entrants. By doing this, it allows businesses to find
weaknesses in the products produced before, thus leading to improvements and expansion on
the aforementioned product. Therefore, it could also lead to customer preference, which is
essential in market success. Due to the nature of early followers and the research time being
later than Market Pioneers, different development strategies are used as opposed to those who
entered the market in the beginning, and the same is applied to those who are Late Followers
in the market. By having a different strategy, it allows the followers to create their own

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unique selling point and perhaps target a different audience in comparison to that of the
Market Pioneers. Early following into a market can often be encouraged by an established
business’ product that is “threatened or has industry-specific supporting assets”.

Late followers

Those who follow after the Close Followers are known as the Late Entrants. While being a
Late Entrant can seem very daunting, there are some perks to being a latecomer. For example,
Late Entrants have the ability to learn from those who are already in the market or have
previously entered. Late Followers have the advantage of learning from their early
competitors and improving the benefits or reducing the total costs. This allows them to create
a strategy that could essentially mean gaining market share and most importantly, staying in
the market. In addition to this, markets evolve, leading to consumers wanting improvements
and advancements on products. Late Followers have the advantage of catching the shifts in
customer needs and wants towards the products. When bearing in mind customer preference,
customer value has a significant influence. Customer value means taking into account the
investment of customers as well as the brand or product. It is created through the “perceptions
of benefits” and the “total cost of ownership”. On the other hand, if the needs and wants of
consumers have only slightly altered, Late Followers could have a cost advantage over early
entrants due to the use of product imitation. However, if a business is switching markets, this
could take the cost advantage away due to the expense of changing markets for the business.
Late Entry into a market does not necessarily mean there is a disadvantage when it comes to
market share; it depends on how the marketing mix is adopted and the performance of the
business. If the marketing mix is not used correctly – despite the entrant time – the business
will gain little to no advantages, potentially missing out on a significant opportunity.

Growth strategy

Growth of a business is critical for business success, so using strategies such as horizontal
integration, vertical integration, diversification and intensification will all benefit a business’s
growth, be it long term or short term. Refer to Ansoff's Matrix for a simpler explanation of
the various growth strategies if those mentioned below are difficult to understand.

Horizontal integration: Horizontal integration is the degree at which employees are

specialized and integrated in. There are low horizontal levels which show that employees are

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specialized in their work and high horizontal levels which show that employees are integrated
in their work. A business's horizontal boundaries can determine the quantities and changes of
products that are produced by two or more businesses that have been merged producing the
same product as one business. Some benefits of the horizontal integration strategy is that it is
good for fast changing work environments as well as providing a broad knowledge base for
the business and employees. A high level of horizontal integration leads to high levels of
communication within the business. Another benefit of using this strategy is that it leads to a
larger market for merged businesses, and it is easier to build good reputations for a business
when using this strategy. A disadvantage of using the horizontal integration strategy is that
this limits and restricts the field of interest that the business is expanding the new products
into. Horizontal integration can affect a business's reputation, especially after a merge has
happened between two or more businesses. There are three main benefits to a business's
reputation after a merge. A larger business helps the reputation and increases the severity of
the punishment. As well as the merge of information after a merge has happened, this
increases the knowledge of the business and marketing area they are focused on. The last
benefit is more opportunities for deviation to occur in merged businesses rather than
independent businesses.

Vertical integration: Vertical integration is when business is expanded through the vertical
production line on one business. An example of a vertically integrated business could be
Apple. Apple owns all their own software, hardware, designs and operating systems instead
of relying on other businesses to supply these. By having a highly vertically integrated
business this creates different economies therefore creating a positive performance for the
business. Vertical integration is seen as a business controlling the inputs of supplies and
outputs of products as well as the distribution of the final product. Some benefits of using a
Vertical integration strategy is that costs may be reduced because of the reducing transaction
costs which include finding, selling, monitoring, contracting and negotiating with other firms.
Also by decreasing outside businesses input it will increase the efficient use of inputs into the
business. Another benefit of vertical integration is that it improves the exchange if
information through the different stages of the production line. Some competitive advantages
could include; avoiding foreclosures, improving the business marketing intelligence, and
opens up opportunities to create different products for the market. Some disadvantages of
using a Vertical Integration Strategy include the internal costs for the business and the need

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for overhead costs. Also if the business is not well organized and fully equipped and prepared
the business will struggle using this strategy. There are also competitive disadvantages as
well, which include; creates barriers for the business, and loses access to information from
suppliers and distributors.

Diversification: Diversification is an area included in the Ansoff Matrix strategy, where the

most risk for a business is situated. This is due to the use of a new product being introduced
to a new market, so there are no already existing target markets or competition. There are two
types of diversification, vertical and horizontal. Horizontal diversification is when a new
product is introduced but doesn’t contribute to the already existing product line. Meaning
horizontal diversification focuses more on product that the business has knowledge about,
whereas vertical diversification focuses more on the introduction of new product onto new
markets, where the business could have less knowledge of the new market. A benefit of
horizontal diversification is that it is an open platform for a business to expand and build
away from the already existing market. A disadvantage of using a Diversification strategy is
that the benefits could take a while to start showing, which could lead the business to
believing that the strategy doesn’t work. Another disadvantage or risk is, it has been shown
that using the horizontal diversification method has become harmful for stock value, but
using the vertical diversification had the best effects.

Marketing strategy process

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 MARKETING
STRATEGY
PROCESS

Three phases of strategic marketing process

1. Planning Phase
The planning phase is the most important as it analyzes internal strengths and weaknesses,
external competition, changes in technology; industry culture shifts and provides an overall
picture of the state of the organization. This phase has four key components that will provide
a clear diagram of where your company is and what it is doing.

 SWOT Analysis – Defines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of

your business and reveal your company’s position in respect to the market. To maximizes
strengths and minimize weaknesses an organization must perform the following:
o Analyze competitors

o Research company’s current and prospective customers

o Assess company

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o Identifying trends in the company’s industry

Once this analysis is complete the results should be used as a basis for developing the
company’s marketing plan, which should be measurable and attainable.

 Marketing program – Once the needs of the customers have been determined, and
the decisions have been made about which products will satisfy those needs, a marketing
program or mix must be developed. This marketing program is the how  aspect of the
planning phases, which focuses on the 4Ps and the budget needed for each element of the
mix.

 Set marketing and product goals

o Once the customer needs are understood, goals can be set to meet them, thus
increasing the chances of success with new products.

o Find points of difference: like your company’s unique selling point, each
product should also have a certain set of traits or characteristics that makes it superior to the
competitive substitute. For example, your product could be longer lasting, more accessible,
more reliable or very user-friendly so the buyers will choose it over the competition each
time.

 Position the product: market so that in people’s minds your product is the “go to” for
their problem. Through emotional and mental marketing customers will associate your brand
with their solution and eliminate choice. For example, many mothers use “Pampers,” when
referring to diapers, as this brand has been positioned as the go to in baby diapering needs.

o Select target markets: based on the research and their commonalities, that way
needs and goals are both met.

 Market-Product focus and Goal Setting – Once the questions of where the
company stands and what it wants to achieve are answered, the next step in the planning
process is determining where the resources will be allocated, and how to turn plans into
focused action. To do this, customers should be divided into segments to determine what
specific marketing technique will reach each targeted group and what each group needs. Next
measurable goals should be set to get the needed products to the various groups, thus
fulfilling the marketing objectives.

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o Price strategy: focuses on the list price, price allowances (reductions),
discounts, payment periods, and credit contracts.

o Place (Distribution) Strategy: the final ‘P’ in the marketing mix should focus
on distribution channels, outlets and transportation to get the product to the customer when
they need it.

o Promotion Strategy: this element of the program should focus on direct

marketing, advertising, public relations and sales promotions that create brand awareness.

o Product Strategy: this element focuses on the features, packaging, branding

and warranty of the product.

2. Implementation Phase
The implementation phase is the action portion of the process. If the firm cannot carry out the
plan that was determined in the early stages, then the hours spent planning were wasted.
However, if the planning was adequately and competently structured, then the program can
be put into effect through a sales forecast and a budget, using the following four components.

 Obtaining Resources – sums of cash to develop and market new products.

 Designing marketing organization – there should be put in place a marketing

hierarchy to properly see the plans to fruition.
 Developing planning schedules – time needs to be allocated to specific tasks so they
can be accomplished.
 Executing the marketing plan – effectively executing the marketing plan will take
attention to detail, and focus on the strategy and tactics defined in your marketing plan.

3. Evaluation or Control Phase

The evaluation phase is the checking phase. This process involves ensuring that the results of
the program are in line with the goals set. The marketing team, especially the manager will
need to observe any deviations in the plan and quickly correct negative deviations to get back
on course; for example fluctuations of the dollar creates a lesser need for the product than in
the past, then the production of said product should be repurposed for a new more desired
item. And they should exploit the positive divergences as well, for example if sales are better
than predicted for certain products then there could be more resources allocated to greater
production or distribution of the same item.

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 A few ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategy include paying attention
to:

 Strategy versus tactic – strategy defines goals and tactic defines actions to achieve
goals.

 Measurable versus vague – have milestones that define when you’ve achieved your
goals.
 Actionable versus Contingent – According to Inc.com: “A strategic goal should be
achievable through the tactics that support it, rather than dependent upon uncontrollable
outside forces.”
 Marketing strategy should be backed by a business plan with tactical moves to
accomplish goals, or it is useless.

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 Company Profile
Flipkart is an electronic commerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was
founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (no relation). The company is registered
in Singapore. Flipkart has launched its own product range under the name "DigiFlip" with
products including tablets, USBs, and laptop bags. As of April 2017, the company was valued
at $11.6 billion. Flipkart is a private company founded by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal.
Established in the year 2007, it deals with e-commerce. The company website is one of the
most popular websites in India and has an employee count of more than ten thousand. Its
slogan, ‘The Online Megastore’ is very apt and popular. As Indian’s are being accustomed to
online purchases, they have contributed towards the success of this online website. Flipkart is
no longer just a shopping website; it has become the heart and soul of the shopaholics.

People have started feeling that this online portal is giving more choices in products than
others. In a recent development, the Indian Textile Ministry has signed with Flipkart a
memorandum of understanding. Under this MOU, the handloom weavers will get an easy to
use platform through Flipkart to display their products and conduct sales. Flipkart will also
provide infrastructural support to the weavers. However, this move has been made for the
growth of handloom industry but it will also benefit the website. To associate with any
government project is in itself a testimony to their reputation.

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 History of the company

Flipkart was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both alumni of the Indian
Institute of Technology Delhi. They worked for Amazon.com, and left to create their new
company incorporated in October 2007 as Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd. The first product
they sold was the book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World to a customer from
Hyderabad. Flipkart now employs more than 33,000 people.

In October and November 2011, Flipkart acquired the websites Mime360.com and

Chakpak.com. Later, in February 2012, the company revealed its new Flyte Digital Music
Store. 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.

After the success of its 2014 Big Billion Sale, Flipkart carried out a second Big Billion
Sale. Where it is reported that they saw a Business turnover of $300 Million in gross
merchandise volume.

In 2015, Flipkart bought a minority stake in navigation and route optimization startup
MapmyIndia to help improve its delivery using Map my India assets.

As E-tailer Flipkart became one of the largest e-commerce companies in the nation, Sachin
Bansal emerged as a face of the company, while a silent stakeholder in the billion dollar start-
up largely stayed in the background Until now.

With Binny Bansal taking over as the CEO of Flipkart and Sachin Bansal moving up to the
position of executive chairman, the ex-COO and co-founder of the company is suddenly in
the media spotlight.

Here are some lesser known facts about Binny Bansal.

 Just like Sachin, Binny Bansal is also from Chandigarh and both went to the same
school, but they are not related in any way except for being an integral part of the Flipkart
family.
 Although the two became close friends at IIT-Delhi, Sachin and Binny were not good
friends as children despite being in the same school.

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  Before joining Amazon just a year after Sachin Bansal, Binny was rejected twice by
Google. However, he worked at Sarnoff Corporation, where he created a sensor for cars to
warn if it changed lanes without giving a signal.

Representational image | Source: PTI

 Apart from being an avid reader and a Salman Rushdie fan, Binny is also a sports
enthusiast. He captained the basketball team in school and college. He is also said to have a
keen interest in adventure sports.
 Binny has been seen as the force behind building Flipkart's supply and logistics
business by spearheading the establishment of its largest warehouse in Telangana.

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 Binny Bansal in a file image | Source: Reuters

 Highlighting his simplicity, Abhishek Goyal, who knows him from Flipkart's early
days said, "He hardly comes across as a billionaire. His wife would bring a tiffin for him on
some of the Sundays that he was in office."

 The first ever book ordered on Flipkart was 'Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
by John Wood', and Binny went on to borrow money from a friend to pick the book and
deliver it.

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Representational image | Source: Reuters

A former employee at Flipkart Xitij Kothi told The Economic Times that, "unlike a lot of the
big names, (Binny) is extremely approachable. You expect to be intimidated, but that just
disappears almost immediately."

Although he is described as a reserved person, his ability to think on his feet is expected to
benefit Flipkart as it takes on rivals like Amazon and Snapdeal.

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 Acquisitions of Flipkart

 2010: WeRead, a social book discovery tool.

 2011: Mime360, a digital content platform company.

 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.

 2012: Letsbuy.com, an Indian e-retailer in electronics. Flipkart has bought the

company for an estimated US$25 million. Letsbuy.com was closed down and all traffic to

Letsbuy has been diverted to Flipkart.

 2014: Acquired Myntra.com in an estimated ₹20 billion (US$300 million) deal. 2015:

Flipkart acquired a mobile marketing start-up Appiterate as to strengthen its mobile platform.

 2016: Flipkart’s Myntra acquires rival fashion shopping site Jabong for $70 million.

 2016: In April, Flipkart acquired payment start-up PhonePe.

 2017: In January, Flipkart funded Parenting Network Tinystep With $2 Million. In

April, in exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay agreed to make a $500 million cash

investment in and sell its eBay.in business to Flipkart; however, according to a company

statement eBay.in would continue to operate as a separate entity from Flipkart.

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 Some of the company’s key competitors are:

 Amazon

 Snap Deal

 e-bay

 shopclus

 Naaptol

 HomeShop18

 Jabong

 Yebhi

 Indiaplaza

 Infibeam

 Letsbuy

Product in the marketing mix of Flipkart

Flipkart is an online retailing industry and started its operations with the sale of books. For
two years, it sold only books through its website as the management and shipment of books
was much easier. After its expansion, it started dealing with products like air coolers,
Washing machines, air conditioner, life style products, stationary supplies, cell phones,
computers, calculators, microwave ovens, water purifiers, laptops, cameras, audio players,
products relating to health care, dishwashers and e-books. Products sold on Flipkart have the
same warranties of the brand if sold outside in a showroom.

25
It has recently launched its personal product range called “DigiFlip”. Under this brand, it
offers products like computer accessories, camera bags, headphones and pen drives.

In July, Flipkart introduced its own tablet phones and networking router under its personal
range “DigiFlip”.

On February 5, 2014 in a special tie up with Motorola Mobility, Flipkart has provided a
platform for the launch of ‘Moto G’. Online shoppers went crazy with the unveiling of this
smart phone. This awe-inspiring response resulted in the sales of nearly 20,000 mobiles in a
few hours. Continuing their association, ‘Moto X’, an Android Smartphone, was introduced
on March 19. On May 13, ‘Moto-E was launched at the same site triggering the same
response.  Continuing this success story Flipkart in a tie up with Xiaomi Techintroduced
‘Xiaomi Mi3’ on its platform. In the first phase on22 nd July all the phones were sold in just 39
minutes and in the 2nd phase on 29thJuly the sold out was complete in only 5 seconds. On
5th August the sale was completed in just 2 seconds. This amazing response and hyper mania
has helped in giving Flipkart an immense lift up.

Place in the Marketing mix of Flipkart

Flipkart functions entirely in India and it has its headquarters in the Garden City of Bangalore
in Karnataka. It is owned by a Singapore based company and is registered over there.
According to India’s foreign policy, a foreign company is not allowed e- retailing over here.
Therefore, in India, Flipkart sells the merchandises through an Indian company WS Retail.
Flipkart also provides its own platform to other companies who are interested in selling their
goods. The website is very easy and hassle free. Browsing, keeping track of products, getting
reviews, ordering goods and payment methods are very convenient for the individuals. At
first Flipkart started its operations on the consignment model in which they personally bought
the book and couriered it. Later they opened many warehouses where the goods were stored
safely. The first warehouse was opened in Bangalore and later in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,
Hyderabad, Pune, Noida and Kolkata. As of today, more than five hundred suppliers are
working for Flipkart. At least 80% of the orders placed are handled and controlled via
warehouses. Shipping companies and courier companies are the real mediators in this setup.

26
The quick and well-organized service is the reason why the company has been able to put its
mark on the Indian market. Their delivery network is spread over thirty-seven cities with
delivery being possible in any nook and corner.

Price in the Marketing mix of Flipkart

Though Flipkart started its venture with an investment of just INR 400,000, today its net
worth is nearly 1billion dollars as its sales are increasing day by day. It still earns revenue of
50% from selling books online. Electronic commerce has become a huge hit because of
Flipkart. Its price policy is very flexible because of online transactions. Amount to be charged
is determined after looking at the innumerable expenses like transport expenses, supplier
expenses, packaging costs, courier charges, shipping cost, office expenses, maintenance
expenses, discount allowances, depreciation, taxes, advertisement expenses and many other
expenses.

Discounts up to 35% are allowed periodically to boost up the sales and maintain competitive
prices. For payments, Flipkart allows credit card transactions, cash payment after delivery,
transaction through debit card, by swiping card on delivery, vouchers available as e-gift and
net banking.

Promotions in the Marketing mix of Flipkart

Flipkart has changed the concept of multi brand retailing of products through internet in
India. Its huge success has proved to be an inspiration for other companies. It operates mostly
through mouth advertising. The satisfied customers have been their best promoters. To have a
firm grip on the online world Flipkart has used the services of Google Ad-words and SEO. 
These marketing tools have made them household names. Downloading the exclusive app of
Flipkart helps in getting alerts about the current offers, order status, price drops, recent
launches and various gift coupons.

Flipkart has also taken the help of creative and interesting advertisements so that an
awareness and trust is generated for their website amongst the people. Their first campaign
was shown on TVC with the concept that books can be delivered with just a single click.
Recently an ad has been launched to increase the social visibility where the tag line is “No
Kidding No Worries”. Trained individuals are hired to fulfill their responsibilities adequately.
The systematic planning and level of effort undertaken to reach such heights is commendable.

27
Journey of Flipkart

Flipkart product Line

Baby care
Books/ eBook media
Cloths
Games and toys
Mobiles cameras
Large appliances ACs, TVs
Home and kitchen
Sports and fitness
Laptops
Jewellery
Footwear

28
 Top investors of Flipkart

There are top five shareholders of the Flipkart, the list is as follows:-

1. Tiger Global – Holds 29.5% Stake

2. Accel partners – Holds 11.5% Stake

3. Binny Bansal – Holds 8.7% Stake

4. Sachin Bansal – Holds 8.7% Stake

5. Intervision Services Holdings – Holds 18.4% Stake

6. Others – Holds 23.2% Stake

29
 Mission and vision of Flipkart

There are three subsidiaries under Flipkart Pvt Ltd. They are:

1. Flipkart Marketplace Pvt Ltd

2. Flipkart Logistics Pvt Ltd

3. Flipkart Payments Pvt Ltd

Under the above three companies, there are five other companies which have been
incorporated in India. They are:
1. Flipkart Payment Gateway Services Pvt Ltd (Which provides the payment gateway
services with the product called payzippy)

2. Flipkart India Pvt Ltd (Wholesale cash and carry entity)

3. Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd (Flipkart.com is owned by this company and all the
technology related issues is seen by this company)

4. Digital Media Pvt Ltd (It is a dormant company which doesn’t files its return)

30
5. Digital Management Services Pvt Ltd (It is an enterprise which runs letsbuy.com).

Acquisition of Myntra.com
This was the most talked topic in the field of e-commerce platform market where Flipkart
acquired myntra.com for around 2200 crores. Myntra.com shareholders accepted the proposal
for the acquisition by the Flipkart but the directors or the owners of myntra.com named
Mukesh Bansal and Ashutosh Lawania have not accepted the share transfer but asked for the
cash payment of the same. Others got the stock in the Flipkart parent company in Singapore.
According to the external sources, myntra.com owners got an average consideration of 427
crores in exchange of the ownership of their share holding the myntra.com

According to the external sources, Mukesh Bansal has again acquired some shares of
myntra.com and now he is eligible for coming in the board meetings and guide the
shareholders for the future prospects of the company. He was also elected the Marketing
chief in the Flipkart. It is to be noticed that both the companies Flipkart and Myntra are
working separately and there is nothing common for the operating of the same as Flipkart
sells a huge variety of products while the former ones is only associated with the apparels
department.

The biggest investor of Flipkart.com – Tiger Global has invested around 700 Million

Dollars in the company which is a huge amount which shows a great sign of trust in the
company by the angel investors and which is much higher as compared to the investment
done by Tiger Global in Facebook and Google.

About online marketing

E-commerce is a transaction of buying or selling online. Electronic commerce draws on

technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain
management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data
interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.
Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the
transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail.

E-commerce businesses may employ some or all of the following:

31
 Online shopping web sites for retail sales direct to consumers
 Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-
to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales

 Business-to-business buying and selling

 Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media

 Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange

 Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example,

with newsletters)

 Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services

 Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes

A timeline for the development of e-commerce:

 1971 or 1972: The ARPANET is used to arrange a cannabis sale between students at

the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
later described as "the seminal act of e-commerce" in John Markoff’s book What the
Dormouse Said.
 1979: Michael Aldrich demonstrates the first online shopping system.

 1981: Thomson Holidays UK is the first business-to-business online shopping system

to be installed.

 1982: Minitel was introduced nationwide in France by France Telecom and used for

online ordering.

 1983: California State Assembly holds first hearing on "electronic commerce" in

Volcano, California. Testifying are CPUC, MCI Mail, Prodigy, CompuServe, Volcano
Telephone, and Pacific Telesis. (Not permitted to testify is Quantum Technology, later to
become AOL.)

 1984: Gateshead SIS/Tesco is first B2C online shopping system[5] and Mrs Snowball,

72, is the first online home shopper

32
 1984: In April 1984, CompuServe launches the Electronic Mall in the USA and
Canada. It is the first comprehensive electronic commerce service.

 1989: In May 1989, Sequoia Data Corp. Introduced Comp market The first internet
based system for e-commerce. Sellers and buyers could post items for sale and buyers could
search the database and make purchases with a credit card.

 1990: Tim Berners-Lee writes the first web browser, WorldWideWeb, using

a NeXT computer.

 1992: Book Stacks Unlimited in Cleveland opens a commercial sales website

(www.books.com) selling books online with credit card processing.

 1993: Paget Press releases edition No. 3 of the first app store, The Electronic
AppWrapper

 1994: Netscape releases the Navigator browser in October under the code

name Mozilla. Netscape 1.0 is introduced in late 1994 with SSL encryption that made
transactions secure.

 1994: Ipswitch IMail Server becomes the first software available online for sale and
immediate download via a partnership between Ipswitch, Inc. and Open Market.

 1994: "Ten Summoner's Tales" by Sting becomes the first secure online purchase
through Net Market.

 1995: The US National Science Foundation lifts its former strict prohibition of

commercial enterprise on the Internet.

 1995: Thursday 27 April 1995, the purchase of a book by Paul Stanfield, Product
Manager for CompuServe UK, from W H Smith's shop within CompuServe's UK Shopping
Centre is the UK's first national online shopping service secure transaction. The shopping
service at launch featured W H Smith, Tesco, Virgin Megastores/Our Price, Great Universal
Stores (GUS), Interflora, Dixons Retail, Past Times, PC World (retailer) and Innovations.

 1995: Jeff Bezos launches Amazon.com and the first commercial-free 24-hour,

internet-only radio stations, Radio HK and NetRadio start broadcasting. eBay is founded by
computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb.

33
 1996: IndiaMART B2B marketplace established in India.

 1996: ECPlaza B2B marketplace established in Korea.

 1996: The use of Excalibur BBS with replicated "Storefronts" was an early

implementation of electronic commerce started by a group of SysOps in Australia and
replicated to global partner sites.

 1998: Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from

the Web.

 1999: Alibaba Group is established in China. Business.com sold for US $7.5 million

to eCompanies, which was purchased in 1997 for US $149,000. The peer-to-peer filesharing
software Napster launches. ATG Stores launches to sell decorative items for the home online.

 2000: Complete Idiot's Guide to E-commerce released on Amazon

 2000: The dot-com bust.

 2001: Alibaba.com achieved profitability in December 2001.

 2002: eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion. Niche retail

companies Wayfair and NetShops are founded with the concept of selling products through
several targeted domains, rather than a central portal.

 2003: Amazon.com posts first yearly profit.

 2003: Bossgo B2B marketplace established in China.

 2004: DHgate.com, China's first online b2b transaction platform, is established,

forcing other b2b sites to move away from the "yellow pages" model.

 2007: Business.com acquired by R.H. Donnelley for $345 million.

 2009: Zappos.com acquired by Amazon.com for $928 million. Retail Convergence,

operator of private sale website RueLaLa.com, acquired by GSI Commerce for $180 million,
plus up to $170 million in earn-out payments based on performance through 2012.

 2010: Groupon reportedly rejects a $6 billion offer from Google. Instead, the group

buying websites went ahead with an IPO on 4 November 2011. It was the largest IPO since
Google.

34
 2012: Zalora Group was founded and started operations around Asia.

 2014: Overstock.com processes over $1 million in Bitcoin sales. India's e-commerce

industry is estimated to have grown more than 30% from 2012 to $12.6 billion in 2013. US
ecommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $294 billion, an increase of 12 percent
over 2013 and 9% of all retail sales. Alibaba Group has the largest Initial public
offering ever, worth $25 billion.

 2015: Amazon.com accounts for more than half of all ecommerce growth, selling

almost 500 Million SKU's in the US.

35
SWOT ANALYSIS OF FLIPKART
Strength:
 Top Indian ecommerce portal
 Diversified into electronic goods
 Two VC investment to build its own delivery system thereby reduce delivery time
 Cash on delivery which is making 60% of its income
 Industry condition: very high potential
 Investor‘s trust
 Services and warehousing
 Payment options
 Established brand

Weakness:
 Coordination with suppliers and courier was tough
 Price biasing to maintain the margins ( e.g. Low price for the best seller book and more
price for the least wanted)
 24/7 customer care, thus even mid night is to delivered within 24 hours
 Entry of international on-line competitors in Indian market
 Customers are not comfortable with online payment
 Not profitable operationally
 Time to build confidence among the customers
 Middle management retention issues.

Opportunities:
 Already working towards customer delight will obtain customer loyalty gradually
 Supplier database interface with flipkart website for JIT procurement
 Mobile internet usage is increasing there by chances of increase in sales through mobile
shopping.
 Development of m-commerce in the e-market
 Increasing internet penetration
 Target social medias to reach young population
 High interest among VC/PE.

36
Threats:
 Small players and emerging competitor
 In capabilities to manage certain costs like delivery cost, bank charges
 High competition from major international online retailers
 Capture of alternative market by competitors
 Major players like Amazon

MARKET SEGMENTATION

The process of defining and subdividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable
segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. Its objective is to design a
marketing mix that precisely matches the expectations of customers in the targeted segment.
Few companies are big enough to supply the needs of an entire market; most must breakdown
the total demand into segments and choose those that the company is best equipped to handle.
The four basic market segmentations are:

GEOGRAPHY SEGMENTATION:
CATERS TO TIER 1, TIER 2 AND TIER 3 CITIES
DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION -
 75% of online users between the age group of 15-34 years.
 Flipkart targets mainly the youth of the country,
BEHAVIOURAL SEGMENTATION –
 Web friendly people
.
PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION –
 Flipkart concentrates on more Psychographic, which helps in deciding where to display ads
online.
 They target online shoppers and people who don‘t online shop (thus TVC to encourage
them).

37
 MARKETING STRATEGIES
 Word of mouth (initial marketing even now they want to satisfy customer so they come
back for more)
 Good use of SEO
 ―We DO NOT sell old books or used books. All the books listed at Flipkart.com are new
books. The books listed at Flipkart.com are NOT available for free download in eBook or
PDF format.
 Thus when you search free eBooks or Pdf books old or used books Flipkart will be
displayed.
 Good use of SEM
 Ads at proper places and use pay per click to pay for ads
 Very easy web interface
 Payment convenience
 Cash/card on delivery – there by encouraging students and people with no credit/debit card
to purchase in Flipkart, with mobile internet penetration there is chances of capturing
rural market (60% revenue by COD)
 EMI –by targeting price sensitive customers
 Wallet – customer can recharge money online and purchase then and when needed those
entering details always is rectified, target heavy purchase and luxury customer
 Customer conversion rate is so high more than 70%
 Personalization of the user page
 Product recommendation with your previous purchases

Poters 5 forces –

Bargain power of suppliers (low)

 The readers are reducing thus suppliers are in weak position

 Inventory turnover is lower, thus more inventory again Flipkart is at the upper hand

Bargain of buyers (high)

 Not many buyers

 Best deals online

38
 Cash on delivery

 One stop solution

 Faster delivery with free shipping cost

Threat of New entries (high)

 Market potential for this industry is high

 Low entry barriers, but sustaining is tough

Threat of substitutes (Low)

 Diminishing brick and mortar model

 Increasing customer ea se and customer satisfaction

Industry rivals (Medium)

 Many small players (Snapdeal, Naaptol ..)

 Entry of international players like Amazon into India

39
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

40
OBJECTIVES:

 To understand and estimate the consumer perception and factors affecting their behavior

for choosing e-commerce sites.

 To understand tactics and methods those are used by flipkart to grab the customers in India.

 To know how consumers are evaluating e-commerce sites for their purchases.

 To understand the work flow of Flipkart in India.

 To study complexities and barriers those are there in between e-commerce sites and

customers.

 To find out new opportunities and to succeed in those procedures.

DATA COLLECTION
The goal for all data collection is to capture quality evidence that then translates to rich data
analysis and allows the building of a convincing and credible answer to questions that have
been posed.

PRIMARY DATA

Primary data was collected from various people and their opinion and information for the
specific purposes of study helped to run the analysis. The data was collected through
questionnaire to understand their experience and preference towards their loyal company.

SECONDARY DATA:
Secondary data was collected from different sites, news papers etc.
Sample size: 100

41
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

42
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. PRIMARY RESEARCH:-

A Primary Research was conducted:

The questionnaire was prepared for the companies and following areas covered

2. SECONDARY RESEARCH:-
 Data was collected from websites and catalogues to understand the product of the different
players.

 Sources used for secondary data collection are company web site, E-tailer web site etc.

43
 ANALYSIS OF DATA:

Questionnaire has been attached in annexure -I

 DEMOGRAPHICS: age group

 HOW OFTEN RESPONDENT SHOP ONLINE?
 PREFERRED ONLINE SITE BY RESPONDENT?
 RESPONDENT PAYMENT METHO?
 RESPONDENT IS MOST IMPRESSED WITH WHICH E-COMMERCE SITE?
 RESPONDENT CHOOSING METHOD OF E-COMMERCE SITE?
 RESPONDENT IS MORE SATISFIED WITH WHICH SITE PRICING
 RESPONDENT WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST TO OTHERS
 OCCASIONS PREFERRED BY RESPONDENT TO DO SHOPPING
 RESPONDENTS FACED PROBLEM WITH
 RESPONDENTS OPINION ON FLIPKART CUSTOMER CARE

44
Literature review

45
 Review of literature

1. Mr. Vicky Singh “The concept of e-commerce is downloading at a fairly rapid pace in the
psyche of the Indian consumer. In the metros, shortage of time is a big driver for online
shopping. On the other hand, accessibility to a variety of products makes audiences from
smaller towns and cities opt for the online route. Major retailers face challenges in stocking
their stores adequately. Often, customers are unable to purchase items of their choice, thus
prompting them to resort to e-retailers. Flipkart has accorded a lot of importance in trust
building exercise that is why it has a strong Customer Support Team which helps the
customers with the website guidance and resolving issues.”

2. “Written by the team at Moderandi Inc” “The concept of e-commerce is downloading at a

fairly rapid pace in the psyche of the Indian consumer. In the metros, shortage of time is a big
driver for online shopping. On the other hand, accessibility to a variety of products makes
audiences from smaller towns and cities opt for the online route. Major retailers face
challenges in stocking their stores adequately. Often, customers are unable to purchase items
of their choice, thus prompting them to resort to e-retailers. Flipkart has accorded a lot of
importance in trust building exercise that is why it has a strong Customer Support Team
which helps the customers with the website guidance and resolving issues. The concept of e-
commerce is downloading at a fairly rapid pace in the psyche of the Indian consumer. In the
metros, shortage of time is a big driver for online shopping. On the other hand, accessibility
to a variety of products makes audiences from smaller towns and cities opt for the
online route. Major retailers face challenges in stocking their stores adequately.

3. “ANVESHANA’s international journal of research in regional studies, law, social

sciences” “Internet became more powerful and basic tool for every person’s need and the
way people work. By integrating various online information management tools using
Internet, various innovative companies have set up systems for taking customer orders,
facilitate making of payments, customer service, collection of marketing data, and online
feedback respectively. These activities have collectively known as e-commerce or Internet
commerce. Online shopping made so easy for everyone with their product variations and
simple way to buy things. An attempt has been made to critically examine various corporate
and business level strategies of two big e-tailers and those are Flipkart and Amazon.
Comparison have been done considering e-commerce challenges, their business model,
funding, revenue generation, growth, survival strategies, Shoppers’ online shopping
experience, value added differentiation, and product offerings. Both these big players made
their own mark in India, but who is going to be ultimate winner or be the top one is going to
be. A comparative study of Flipkart.com with one of the close competitor Amazon.com
delivers the information about the different strategies to succeed in e-commerce market and
different opportunities available in India.”

46
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION

47
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
DEMOGRAPHICS:
Respondent age group and gender
TABLE: .1

MEASURI
VARIABL
NG FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
ES
GROUP

50.0
35
Below 25
35.7
25
Age Between 25-
35 14.3
10
Above 35
100

Male 28 40
Gender Female 42 60
Total 70 100

ANALYSIS:
The above chart provides the empirical findings gleaned from the collected data. It provides
demographic information of the respondents and the statistical analysis of the information
collected from them. This is followed by the interpretation and discussion about our findings.
The above table shows that out of 70 respondents 50 % of people are in the age group of < 25
years,35.7% of people are in the age group of 25-35 and 14.3% of people are in the group of
>35.

Another demographic factor we considered is gender. Female respondents are higher than the
male respondents that who prefer online shopping.

48
GRAPH: 1

Respondent age group and gender who buys frequently

PURCHASE

14%
>25
50% 25-35
36% <35

INTERPRETATION

We are having highest respondents who do online shopping are less than 25 years and almost
all those belongs to student category. At the same time 35.7% of age group 25-35 is utilizing
online shopping well. All those people are attracted to e-commerce sites which are offering
wide range of products to everywhere and also with their services. We can interpret that
based upon their preferences that they are getting different and unavailable international
products online, which made easy and time efficient.

49
HOW OFTEN RESPONDENT SHOP ONLINE

TABLE: 2

Duration Purchase

Frequently 17

Once in two months 11

Once in one month 21

Very rare 21

ANALYSIS:

From above table we can see that how often respondents are doing shopping online. It
became habit of choosing online shopping instead of brick and mortar shopping. Here 21 out
of 70 respondents are so regular that they do shop online at least once in month. Here also we
can see that people who like frequently is less than people shop once in a month and some
people are those who shop only in rare case.

50
GRAPH: 2

HOW OFTEN RESPONDENT SHOP ONLINE

INTERPRETATION

From above table we can interpret that how often respondents are doing shopping online. It
became habit of choosing online shopping instead of brick and mortar shopping. Here 30% of
respondents are so regular that they do shop online at least once in month. That open more
ways to e-commerce people to succeed in market.

51
PREFERRED ONLINE SITE BY RESPONDENT

Table: 3

COMPANY RESPONDENT

Flipkart 25

Amazon 27

Snapdeal 12

Shopclues 3

Others 2

ANALYSIS

From above table we can analyze that respondent like to shop more from Amazon than any
other site. Out of 70 respondents 27 respondents like to use Amazon for shopping. We can
see that the Flipkart is getting tough competition from Amazon. Only and there is other sites
after Amazon who stands in the line competition with Flipkart. In the second place it’s
Flipkart. Respondent like to use Flipkart after Amazon.

52
GRAPH: 3

PREFERRED ONLINE SITE BY RESPONDENT?

Interpretation: From above table we can interpret that both Amazon and Flipkart were
chosen by 75% people. And rest of the e-commerce players such as Snapdeal (18%) and shop
clues (4%) are too low in the competition to reach the target of both Amazon and Flipkart.
Even though Paytm is offering huge discounts when compared to its competitors.

53
TABLE: 4

WHAT IS RESPONDENTS PAYMENT METHOD?

PAYMENT METHOD PREFERRED

Debit card 19

Credit card 3

Internet banking 4

Cash on delivery 44

ANALYSIS:

We can see that most people are using cash on delivery and only few are using credit cards
and net banking. Second mostly preferred option is debit cards. In this we found that only few
peoples are chose internet banking and credit card because of lack of knowledge, fear to give
information and most of the people don’t use credit card in India.

54
GRAPH: 4

WHAT IS RESPONDENT PAYMENT METHOD?

INTERPRETATION:

E-commerce players have to gain confidence in terms of providing security to customer’s

sensitive data. When respondent is questioned with payment method they will use while
doing online shopping, most of the respondents choose cash on delivery method which is of
62.9%. We can analyze that cash on delivery is simple and perfect way to customer to
proceed. Even delivery boys are carrying swipe machines and made more convenient.

55
TABLE: 5

RESPONDENT IS MOST IMPRESSED WITH WHICH E-COMMERCE SITE

Company Respondent

Flipkart 29

Amazon 32

Other 9

ANALYSIS:

We can see in the above table that Amazon is most impressed site for the respondent, and
Flipkart is second most preferred for respondent, and other sites are just few respondents. So,
here we can see that Amazon is in top and after that Flipkart. Only Amazon is giving a tough
competition.

56
GRAPH: 5

RESPONDENT IS MOST IMPRESSED WITH WHICH E-COMMERCE SITE

Interpretation: E-commerce site that is most appreciated by customers is Amazon. Amazon

is leading with 47.1% when compared to Flipkart, which is having 40% of respondent’s
interest. And rest of e-commerce sites are not even in the reach of Flipkart and Amazon. It
clearly proves that Flipkart and Amazon are leading e-commerce market in India.

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TABLE: 6

RESPONDENT CHOOSING METHOD OF FLIPKART SITE

METHOD SELECTION

Referred by friend 20

Advertisement 26

Online review 24

ANALYSIS:

From the above table we can see that selection of the Flipkart according to advertisement is
high, and then according to online review and at last according to friend’s suggestion. People
visit on Flipkart site due to commercial ads on different web site. Out of 70 respondent 26
respondent visit site through advertisement.

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GRAPH: 6

RESPONDENT CHOOSING METHOD OF FLIPKART SITE

INTERPRETATION:

Which is the perfect way to reach the customers? Or by what basis client is choosing online
site for shopping. According to above table respondents are choosing as per online reviews
and also equal percentage of respondents are choosing e-commerce sites based upon their
friend’s suggestions.

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TABLE: 7

RESPONDENT IS MORE SATISFIED WITH WHICH SITE PRICING

SITES SATISFIED

Flipkart 24

Amazon 25

Snapdeal 7

Paytm 12

Others 2

ANALYSIS:

From the above table we can see that people are mostly satisfied with amazon pricing, and
Flipkart comes in second position in terms of pricing, and then on 3 rd its paytm, and then
snapdeal and others come. Pricing is one of the strategies which can give more market share
as well as growth of a company. We can also see that respondent chose paytm and other sites
are less because they don’t use such kinds of strategies.

GRAPH: 7
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RESPONDENT IS MORE SATISFIED WITH WHICH SITE PRICING

INTERPRETATION: From product order to delivery of the product its company’s

responsibility to fulfill customer’s requirements. Customers expect what they paid for, if
something happens they will hesitate to purchase again. From above table most of the
respondents (41.4%) are having problem with the product quality and after that they are
having problem with delay of product delivery.

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TABLE: 8

Respondent preferred sites for

SITES PRICE SERVICES EASY RETURN

Flipkart 24 28 27

Amazon 28 23 26

Snapdeal 12 14 11

Shopclues 6 5 6

ANALYSIS:

From the above table we can see that according to what basis a customer choose a site that
according to price Amazon is the best, according to services Flipkart is best and according to
easy return again Flipkart is best. Here we also can see that Amazon is only the company
which is giving tough competition.

GRAPH: 8

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Respondent preferred sites for

INTERPRETATION:

From the above chart we interpret that people love to buy from Amazon more due to its
pricing and then on the basis of services and easy return they like Flipkart. Flipkart using
easy return police which is more convenient to the people. In this busy life people like to pay
more but do not want anything’s to be delayed.

TABLE: 9

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RESPONDENTS FACED PROBLEM WITH

PROBLEM RESPONDENT

Delay in delivery 15

Product damage 10

Cheap quality of product 29

Non delivery 7

Others 9

ANALYSIS

We can see that the people have faced more problem in not getting the quality product a and
after that the delay in delivery, even some time people get damaged product, and some time
its non delivery of products and others problem are also there like delivery boy is arrogant
etc.

GRAPH: 9

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RESPONDENTS FACED PROBLEM WITH

INTERPRETATION

From product order to delivery of the product its company’s responsibility to fulfill
customer’s requirements. Customers expect what they paid for, if something happens they
will hesitate to purchase again. From above table most of the respondents (41.4%) are having
problem with the product quality and after that they are having problem with delay of product
delivery.

TABLE: 10

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RESPONDENTS OPINION ON FLIPKART CUSTOMER CARE

SCALE LIKE BY THE RESPONDENT

Awesome 13

Good 34

Nor good nor bad 10

Bad 7

Worst 6

ANALYSIS:

From the above table we can see that the Flipkart customer care have a good response and
satisfactory by most of the customer and only few have bad experience with it. To avoid any
kind of problem with customer care Flipkart need to train their executive on regularly basis.

GRAPH: 10

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RESPONDENTS OPINION ON FLIPKART CUSTOMER CARE

INTERPRETATION: Respondents will choose e-commerce sites when they are fully
satisfied with their complete services. After purchase also, company have to take responsible
for customer’s requirement. Flipkart made its mark in customer’s heart. Respondents (47.1%)
of them are happy with the Flipkart customer support. This is actually a better result to
Flipkart, because people are positive towards it.

Table: 11

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OCCASIONS PREFERRED BY RESPONDENT TO DO SHOPPING

OCCASION PURCHASE

Festivals 7

To gifts 6

Offers 38

Weeding 5

Others 14

ANALYSIS:

From the above table we can see that people to buy more from Flipkart when it give offers to
its customer. So, Flipkart need to take care of all its offers and that product which should be
offer related. But Flipkart should keep it in mind offers should decrease the quality of goods.

GRAPH: 11

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OCCASIONS PREFERRED BY RESPONDENT TO DO SHOPPING

INTERPRETATION

E-commerce sites know when to and how to capture customers. The timing of offers in
ecommerce sites is just perfect. Even though people don’t need them they will purchase
because of tempting deals in a row. More than 50% of people are doing online shopping,
when those e-commerce sites are offering so many exciting deals and offers. All the e-
commerce sites are moving their pawns competitive to each other, which lead customers in
confusion.

TABLE: 12

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RESPONDENT WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST TO OTHERS

SITES LIKE TO SUGGEST (IN NO.)

Flipkart 22

Amazon 24

Snapdeal 10

Paytm 9

Others 5

ANALYSIS

We can see in the above table that most people like to suggest the Amazon because overall
performance of Amazon is very good. People are satisfied from its services. People
suggestion is based on their satisfaction level. People suggest to other if the satisfaction level
is high and if satisfaction level will be low respondent don’t like to suggest to their friends,
family and groups.

GRAPH: 12

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RESPONDENT WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST TO OTHERS

INTERPRETATION

From one of our previous question we understood it that friend suggestion is so important
while purchasing online or while selecting an e-commerce site. From above table we got our
view clear based upon the respondent’s view which ecommerce site is leading in friends
suggestions. 37.1% of respondents are ready to suggest Amazon to their friends and family.
And after Amazon, Flipkart is leading in respondent’s suggestion box with 28.6%. And rests
of them are having very minimum importance and occupation in respondent’s opinion.

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RECOMMENDATIONS, CONCLUSIONS

LIMITATIONS, SUGGESTIONS

RECOMMENDATION

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• Attract customers by exchange offer, discount offer, cash back offer and face gift
offer on the festival occasions

• Establish a cordial relationship with local dealers and offer a good commission
margins for promoting our products.

• Keep a hawk eye on the competitors and act according to their sales and marketing
strategy.

• Create an effective advertisement with an influential punch line.

• To provide better services in order to satisfy the customer needs.

• Improvement in customer care service.

• Improve delivery standards and train the delivery boys regularly.

• Improve the trust and eliminate those dealers who are responsible for creating bad
image of company.

• Should always use a strategy of SEO as it an online player of E-commerce.

• Expand the area to tier 3 cities as more of the people leave in those areas.

CONCLUSION:-

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The study consisted with all the work flows of and strategies of E-commerce player, Flipkart.

How Flipkart is performing and how they are running perfectly in the competitive world has

been explained. The innovative thinking of them to reach more and more consumers is

appreciable. They increased their network as much as possible with ultimate aim of reaching

more and more customers. They made consumers work more easy and comfortable. In this

competitive market one has to be lead and rest will follow. Based upon consumer’s survey we

got our clear winner and it is Amazon. Even though it is an international company it

understood Indians very well and made its roots stronger in India. Flipkart is also giving very

tough competition to Amazon even though it is new company when compared to Amazon.

May be it takes some time to overcome, but definitely they are doing very well in Indian e-

commerce market. Flipkart is using more offers like Flipkart big billion day etc. Flipkart is

also using Pay per click and so Amazon is doing. Flipkart is also acquiring more companies

who can add value to it. Recently Flipkart acquires E-bay India to give a tough competition to

Amazon.

LIMITATION

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 According to us there were so many limitations during project which were great hurdle in the
competition of report-

 Time allowed for the study was not sufficient.

 A sample survey was selected.

 The data provided by the respondent may not be correct or accurate.

 Some of the samples selected for the study did not respond properly to the questionnaire.
However proper care had taken to make the analysis and interpretations more meaningful.

 Questionnaires are impersonal, this means that it may be difficult to understand answers and
thus to act on them. Also, there is a chance that the question may be misinterpreted, rendering
the answer useless.

 Questionnaires also invite people to lie and answer the questions very vaguely which they
would not do in an interview.

 Open questions can take a lot of time to collect and analyses.

 People are not always willing to fill questionnaires in so they may just throw them always.

 Sometimes questions used are too standardized (closed) so some peoples preferred answers
may not be included, and this also does not allow for much detail.

 Peer pressure of embarrassment may cause people to not want to answer certain questions, or
they may want to impress the researcher and fabricate the truth by filling in untrue answers,
making questionnaires unreliable and sometimes invalid. 

 There was so much confidential data of companies that are not exposed.
 Survey was restricted to particular age group because respondents willing to fill are college
students.
 Analysis was done based upon personal opinion of respondents individually, not from any
focus groups or experts.

SUGGESTION

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 In this research I found that various people told that packaging can be improved. So it should
be better if they work on packaging because packaging itself a way of promotion. A good
package creates a good image of the product.

 Sometime the way of behaving of a delivery boy is not good, so Flipkart need to train them
how to be polite in front of customer.

 People get damaged product, so they need to work on primary packaging as well, so that it
does not damaged any product.

 It’s a service based industry so services can be improved like customer care services, delivery
services, return services etc.

 Eliminate those local dealer who doesn’t provides quality goods and responsible for
damaging the goodwill of the company.

 People are ready to pay more for if the service is good so always try to give best services.

 The customer care of Flipkart needs to work on complaint as fast as they can because people

are ready to pay more but today they don’t have time for wait.

 Keep a hawk eye on the competitors and act according to their sales and marketing strategy.

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 KEY FINDINGS

KEY FINDINGS
 Female respondents are showing more interest to do online shopping than male
respondents.

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 Customers are preferring quality product from e-commerce sites, even it is bit expensive.
 Flipkart is trying very hard to reach the top position but Amazon India is giving very tough
competition.
 Amazon is leading in every aspect of survey such as price, preferred and also suggesting to
friends.
 Undoubtedly Flipkart and Amazon made their impact on customers very strongly and
captured loyal customers. And they are ready suggesting their online shopping site to rest of
their friends.
 Both Flipkart and Amazon India advertisings were very innovative and attractive. Both
companies are expending so much money on advertising and promotions.
 Every age group people are interested in offers, if they are in need or not they want to
purchase.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

79
 BOOKS:

 Assael, Henry. (1984.) “Behavior and Market Action”. Boston, Massachusetts: Kent
Publishing Company,
 Belch, G.E., & Belch, M.A. (2001). Advertising and Promotion: An integrated Marketing
Communications Perspective (5th Ed.). Boston: Irwin/McGraw- Hill.
 Cooper, Donald R. and Schindler, Pamela S. (1999), Business Research Methods, 6 Tata
McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, India.
 Creswell, J. W. (2003). “Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
Approaches”. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.
 Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. & Lowe, A. (2002), Management Research 2nd edition,
London: Sage.
 Remenyi, D., Williams, B., Money, A. and Swartz, E. (1998), “Doing Research in Business
and Management”, Sage Publications, London.

JOURNELS AND MAGAZINES:

 Arnold, E.J. and Wallendorf, M. “Market-oriented Ethnography: Interpretation Building and
Marketing Strategy Formulation,” Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 31 (November 1994),
pp. 484–504.

 ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ONLINE

Author: DejanPetrovic

 HOT BARGAINS: TIPS TO FIGURE OUT TRAPS FROM THE REAL VALUE DEALS

SUSHMITA CHOUDHURY AGARWAL, ET Bureau Apr 22, 2013 (The Economic Times)

WEBSITES:

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 www.Flipkart.com
 www.commodityindia.com
 www.marketoperation.com
 www.nextbigwhat.com
 www.britannica.com
 en.kioskea.net
 www.ecommerce-land.com
 www.commodityindia.com

www.marketoperation.com

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ANNEXURE

82
 ANNEXURE:-

Questionnaire

Name
Place
Contact info
Age
Gender
1. HOW OFTEN RESPONDENT SHOP ONLINE?

a) Once in a month b) once in two months

c) More frequently d) vary rare

2. PREFERRED ONLINE SITE BY RESPONDENT?

a) Amazon b) Flipkart
c) Snapdeal d) shopclues
e) Other

3. RESPONDENT PAYMENT METHOD

a) Debit card b) credit card
c) Net banking d) cash on delivery

4. RESPONDENT IS MOST IMPRESSED WITH WHICH E- COMMERCE SITE

a) Amazon b) Flipkart
c) Snapdeal d) others

5. RESPONDENT CHOOSING METHOD OF E-COMMERCE SITE

a) Referred by friend b) Advertisement
c) Online review

6. RESPONDENT IS MORE SATISFIED WITH WHICH SITE

PRICING
a) Flipkart B) Amazon
c) Snapdeal d) Paytm

7. RESPONDENT WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST TO OTHERS\

a Flipkart b) Amazon
c) Snapdeal d) Paytm

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 8. OCCASIONS PREFERRED BY RESPONDENT TO DO SHOPPING
a) Festival b) to gift
c) Offers d) weeding e) others

9. RESPONDENTS FACED PROBLEM WITH

a) Delay in delivery b) product damage
c) Cheap quality of product d) non delivery
e) Other

10) RESPONDENTS OPINION ON FLIPKART CUSTOMER CARE

a) Awesome b) good
c) Nor good nor bad d) bad
e) Worst

84