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In my opinion Amazon helped Flipkart grow. If there wasn't any worthy opponent the growth would have been less aggressive. Now that the aggressive growth has plateaued, it makes sense to grow smarter.
I remember reading about Flipkart when they turned off their website. At the time I thought that was a potential terrible sign of things to come (moving to walled garden mobile apps instead of URLs and websites). Thankfully, hardly anyone of consequence followed suit and the move was widely seen as a disaster.
China's e-commerce sites don't have such a worry. They have Great Firewall. Trade barrier works! /s
Must say though that Amazon's recommendation engine and technical prowess in general is superior. I imagine so are Amazon's warehousing robots and logistics. Also from what I once heard, their Vendor Managers are more efficient (and aggressive) in dealing with the merchants.
To me Flipkart's weakness in strategic vision started showing up in dealing with the fashion segment - I never understood such an upmarked Myntra acquisition. They already had the fashion segment on their site back then! And then they got even more heady and switched to an App-Only Shop for couple of days. Whoever, initiated and approved that move!! (Side note: Flipkart founders are ex-Amazonians.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fact is, Amazon in India picked up in last 2years only while Flipkart already made its mark and doing billion dollar business.
What changed, in your opinion? Why now, for Amazon?
China's e-commerce sites don't have such a worry. They have Great Firewall. Trade barrier works! /s
I don't think that /s is necessary. I think the years have proved that china's trade barrier has worked wonders for home grown businesses. Look at didi chuxing. Blindly aped uber and worth more than them now. On the other hand look at India's own uber competitor: ola. They're struggling almost as much as flipkart while uber thunders ahead.
You cannot trust any valuation that comes out of China.
I've used both Flipkart and Amazon(India) sites. 1. For me, Flipkart's introduction was only due to the huge discounted prices. Also it was new, better and trusted experience compared to Ebay(India). And Amazon came late in the game. Mentally I associate Flipkart with huge Discounts (and Mi phones). And those discounts don't exist any more. 2. Amazon.in is just a great user experience. Flipkart.com still feels like a…
I have not bought anything from Flipkart since more than one year. The company was doomed from the start, I had the chance to see it form their interview process. It is so broken that I felt it outrageous that it was the _hottest_ startup in India. Amazon is awesome, because it provides low prices + quality service. It isn't just "discount retailing" Flipkart built its reputation on motorola phones because Moto was e…
I can see what you mean in this specific instance though. I wonder if its just lack of experience in transitions from a small company to a bigger one in the India startup environment.
Worth reading to compare and highlights the some of the points in the above article with much more detail..
China's e-commerce sites don't have such a worry. They have Great Firewall. Trade barrier works! /s
I don't think that /s is necessary. I think the years have proved that china's trade barrier has worked wonders for home grown businesses. Look at didi chuxing. Blindly aped uber and worth more than them now. On the other hand look at India's own uber competitor: ola. They're struggling almost as much as flipkart while uber thunders ahead.
Their market caps notwithstanding - Alibaba, Didi Kuaidi and Baidu are not global companies. India already has one of the largest global ad networks outside of Google i.e. InMobi and I believe over the next 20 years, you'll see much more truly global Internet companies started out of India vs. China.