Flipkart - An Amazing Online Shopping Experience

By Abdullah Chougle Sun, 09/18/2011 - 14:55

Flipkart is often called the Amazon of India. Set up by two ex-Amazon employees as a startup in 2007, it brings Indians the best of the online shopping world knocking at their doors.

I’ve been a regular buyer of stuff from Flipkart, and my experience with them has been simply amazing. So here’s my review on Flipkart, and what I believe has been helping them to be highly successful. 

1) They provide an estimated delivery time - and keep their promises

Flipkart does not think short term by providing overly optimistic delivery times. Online stores will ensure returning customers only if they keep their promises, and Flipkart seems to keep that in mind with their fairly accurate delivery time estimates.

The promised time of delivery varies between a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on the availability of the goods. Generally, items arrive well within the time frames.

Only once out of a dozen-odd orders I experienced a delay of ten days. I'd overlook that as an exception.

2) Dead low prices

The prices are among the lowest I could find in shops around, and Flipkart doesn’t charge for delivery. If you consider the traveling cost for going to the cheapest shops around, Flipkart will probably end up being cheaper. What attracts buyers more than the best deal in terms of money?

UPDATE (Feb 26, 2012): This no longer seems to be true. Prices have been rising, and they even delete reviews that talk about the rising prices. Flipkart explicitly warns that they may remove any pricing related comments.

3) They have their own courier services

This was a pleasant surprise to me when I first ordered from them. Flipkart uses their own courier system, to do away with the problems rampant with the infamous courier services in India.

4) Insured protection for electronic items

There have been many stories about courier delivery guys opening up packages to steal goods. Flipkart has taken the initiative to guide you upfront on this - they have insured shipping for electronic goods, so check your package when you receive it, and ask for a replacement if it’s tampered with. Hopefully, such instances won’t happen with Flipkart’s delivery service.

5) Varied options for payment - including cash on delivery

For a smoother buying experience, there are many options for payment - Credit/Debit cards, Net Banking, and Cash on Delivery in select cities. The last option is interesting - many Indian buyers are skeptical of buying items online because of the prevalence of fraud. Delivering the product home before it's paid for is a great way to build customer confidence.

As a bookstore and a general shopping site, Flipkart seems to have a great future ahead and is already gaining a good name among the masses.

Have you ordered goods from Flipkart? Are you skeptical about online shopping in India? Feel free to comment below!

Analysis & Opinion
flipkart


Check Out Our Other Articles too!

Comments

On Sun, 09/18/2011 - 16:03

I agree. This is awesome site. One more thing is , some time they will call you to confirm if we received the order or not. They are very good at customer care. One -ve point I felt is , reviews of books are not as good / in depth as amazon provides you. There is remarkable difference , specially when I looked for books on hacking and security.

Now it will be interesting to see , as even amazon is planning to open its online store in India on the same lines as in US.

By Vishal Chougule

On Sun, 09/18/2011 - 16:31

Flipkart didn't start too long ago...so it's not surprising that there are few reviews. What works for me is that I search on Amazon.com and other sites first for reviews, and then head to Flipkart to buy the item. Also, it depends on how the customers react - many of the reviews on Flipkart aren't really reviews, but casual discussions. It might take some time before the Indian market responds in a way similar to Amazon's consumer market.

By Abdullah Chougle

On Wed, 11/02/2011 - 16:16

Well, I agree with the point that there are few reviews, given the time period they've been running. However there are features on Amazon like 'look inside' wherein you can have a glimpse of some of the contents of a book to get a feel of the book before purchasing. This is something I don't find on flipkart and this is something in their hands to implement (unlike user reviews).
Of course, even for this we can go to Amazon and check, but that's not an idea at least something which is in the site's hand. This is especially important as India's online market opens up, big players like Amazon will enter here and then you can't have customers go to Amazon for purchases on Flipkart. Then they will not move to Flipkart at all, if Amazon is offering competitive prices.

By Vishal Chougule

On Mon, 09/19/2011 - 05:19

I had ordered 2 books few months ago. I found the entire booking+delivery process extremely simple.

By Abdulqader Kapadia

On Wed, 10/26/2011 - 06:54

I had ordered headphones on 22nd and have still not received the delivery! This is highly unprofessional! I think flipkart should manage the delivery timings in a better manner!

By himanshu sarda

On Wed, 10/26/2011 - 10:55

Flipkart promises delivery in terms of "working days". Today is a holiday in India, so since the 22nd there were just 2 working days. Assuming 3 working days, it should arrive by tomorrow :)

There have been delays reported on the Internet, but hopefully those are the exception, not the norm.

By Abdullah Chougle

On Wed, 11/02/2011 - 10:50

Online shopping is catching up in India. The concept itself is quite new to India, unlike the West where online shopping is big. Trustworthy sellers are effecting this change. I have used mygrahak.com for buying my monthly grocery and am happy with it.

By Rakesh Sharma

On Wed, 11/02/2011 - 13:08

Interesting...and are you satisfied with the freshness? That could be the difference between success and failure for an online grocery store.

By Naweed Chougle

On Fri, 11/04/2011 - 17:35

hi rakesh...i am happy to see the name mygrahak.com mentioned by you...its giving me a post-purchase boost as i believe its one of the few online store giving quality service .....their delivery time is too quick...may be because they serve just Delhi/NCR...but still good for me :))

By Divya

On Wed, 11/02/2011 - 16:07

Yes, online shopping is catching up in India and another such example is SnapDeal, which offers deals at discounted prices wherein you need to print vouchers and go to merchant with that to avail the offer. I personally used it and most of the times it was satisfactory - except couple of incidents where quality looked compromised.

Not surprisingly, this is again a concept based on something similar we had in the US, like GroupOn which turned down Google's massive $6 billion acquisition offer and intends to stay independent.

By Vishal Chougule

On Fri, 11/04/2011 - 11:40

Dear Naweed, that is a question well asked. Presently, mygrahak sells only FMCG products in both food and non food categories. They are now selling only in Delhi and NCR region, thus they are able to deliver within time. About the freshness, all the packages were well packed when delivered and far away from their expiry date!

By Rakesh

On Mon, 04/30/2012 - 09:30

Dont waste your time shopping with these folks. They're laid back, unprofessional and dont deliver as promised. PATHETIC CUSTOMER SERVICE! THE WORST EVER! A COOLER TOOK OVER 10 DAYS TO BE DELIVERED IN A CITY LIKE B'LORE! THEY JUST BUY TIME AND DONT DELIVER AS PROMISED. PLZ DONT MAKE THE MISTAKE......!

By Brian

On Sat, 08/11/2012 - 16:19

Respected sir,
please tell me how the things are procured in flipkart,there are different type of goods like phones , electronic gadgets,lifestyle ,books ,are there so how different think are procured. please replay

By SURYAKANTA SAHU

On Sun, 08/12/2012 - 10:54

Hey Suryakanta!

Flipkart buys goods from different distributors, and stocks them in their own inventories. They stock more than their anticipated sales, which allows them to deliver very quickly in most cases. More about this is mentioned in the recent Forbes article on Flipkart (search for "distributors" on that page).

By Abdullah Chougle

On Wed, 09/12/2012 - 11:04

Your information on item 5) Varied options for payment - including cash on delivery does not seem to be correct. You are supposed to pay the value of the item at the time of delivery of the packet that you believe contains the product. You are not allowed to see what you are paying for.

By Ivan D'cruz

On Tue, 09/18/2012 - 17:35

Ivan,

I can't say I disagree, but I'd been allowed, on request, to open the pack and confirm what's inside before paying. I've changed the wording in the article so that it doesn't indicate that you always get to see the product or are encouraged to do so.

By Abdullah Chougle

On Fri, 12/14/2012 - 12:47

Flipkart ia the online shopping store where I buy all the Items required for my home, But for grocery Items I usually go to http://bigbasket.com/, So if flipkart itself starts grocery also it will be very good for the customers as they will get all the Items under one online shopping store.

By rashmi d m

On Fri, 05/17/2013 - 10:28

A great article, it is interesting that Flipkart use their own courier service. There are many shipping companies that work with other sites but it is important that companies use what is best for their customers, whether that is by having their own courier or by using a 3PL company.

By Carousel

On Tue, 05/28/2013 - 08:34

Excellent customer service, Flipkart! My damaged book was replaced in four days. Although it’s been more than two months since I purchased the book, I found out about the damage only four days ago. When I e-mailed them, they instantly agreed to replace the item. I didn’t even have to make a phone call. Thank you so much!!

By Deepika

Add new comment