Strategy Case Studies, Growth Strategy Case Studies

Code : GRS0222

Year : 2013

Industry :E-Commerce

Region : India

Teaching Note:Available

Structured Assignment : Not Available

Introduction Flipkart, the first Indian Internet company to be valued at a billion dollars , found itself facing a competitive threat at the end of 2012 with the entry of global e-retail giants into India and the surge in the number of Indian e-stores. Flipkart – launched in 2007 as an e-retailer of books by Binny Bansal (Binny) and Sachin Bansal (Sachin), ex-employees of Amazon – had gradually expanded to include a wide range of products including electronics, shoes, apparel, and home furnishing. Sachin and Binny stated that they saw huge opportunities in the Indian e-commerce market to expand their business. By the end of 2012, Flipkart was among the top 20 Indian websites, according to Alexa Rankings, a global company studying online traffic ratings. It was the largest online bookseller in India with over 11 million titles.

The e-commerce market in India grew from $2.5 billion in 2009 to over $14 billion in 2012. The healthy growth of the Indian e-retail market attracted international e-retail companies like Amazon, e-Bay , and Alibaba to venture into India. As the foreign companies started doing the groundwork to establish their e-retail stores in India, many marketers opined that Flipkart might face huge competition once these companies started their operations in the country. Though there was no dearth of opportunities for the Indian e-retail market, there were some problems were hindering its growth.