Business Case Studies, Leadership Case Study, Tata Group,Ratan Tata

Code : MAA0229

Year : 2021

Industry :-

Region : Asia

Teaching Note:Yes

Structured Assignment : Not Available

Abstract:To control the spread of COVID-19, the Indian government announced a lockdown in March 2020. The lockdown was lifted in phases, starting from April 2020. After the lockdown was eased, a change was observed in the shopping patterns of retail customers in India. There was a spurt in online sales, with increased orders from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Both domestic and international e-commerce giants were competing to gain a significant market share in the Indian e-commerce business and the industry had been witnessing significant consolidations and investments from Indian and foreign companies.

Flipkart, an e-commerce giant in India, part of the US-based Walmart Inc., was looking to expand its base in the Indian markets to face the competition from e-commerce players Reliance JioMart and Amazon Inc. At the same time, major Indian apparel retailer Birla Fashion was looking at expanding its online presence. Birla Fashion decided to partner with Flipkart, and sold a stake to the e-commerce giant.

The sale of stake in Birla Fashion to Flipkart provides an opportunity for both the entities to leverage on their strengths and to gain a significant presence in the market. The present case study can be helpful to understand the prevailing scenario in the Indian retail markets and the role of the e-commerce business in the Indian retail segment.