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India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

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Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#31
post #25

Um, I suspect that the reason is much simpler. An app can authorize a purchase through the phone provider. A website requires a credit card.

This is interesting. India the primary way for in app purchase is via the provider. Credit card penetration is low.

Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#32
I used to be a regular Flipkart user, I even bought their "Flipkart First" subscription. That was a waste of money. Nowadays I just shop on amazon or ebay, Prices are usually cheaper for the same items. Plus they don't force me to use the app when on mobile.

Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#33
post #29
post #14

I am an regular Flipkart User, and I do not like this behaviour, Flipkart is forcing me to move to an mobile app, just to have better control and tracking. They have already stopped supporting the mobile website, and it simply instructs you to download the app to continue. This is the moment I have completely stopped using flipkart and moved to amazon.in I like website more than app, both gets the job done, where as…

The above concerns would never bother (coz they are not aware) average population , which is more than 95% I guess. Rest is something Fipkart may be willing to trade off.

I guess it will be damn interesting to see how this pans out for Flipkart. FWIS, Flipkart is very unhappy that it wasn't allowed to control (yes control!) the market over web with its Airtel Zero plans. Read more about Net Neutrality [1] events in India lately.

Amazon India is certainly a serious threat to them. On a closed platform (like that of Android which is major in India) they probably have a lot more control and tracking (as someone mentioned it above). I guess it would make a lot of sense for FK to tap the naivete of Indian market and pull them all away from the web.

It's all politics written all over it!

[1] http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/13/flipkart-airtelzero/

Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#34
post #25

Um, I suspect that the reason is much simpler. An app can authorize a purchase through the phone provider. A website requires a credit card.

This is interesting. India the primary way for in app purchase is via the provider. Credit card penetration is low.

Can you clarify what "provider" means? Is it Flipkart or the network (Airtel, etc)?

Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#35

I love Amazon Prime Now in NYC (free 2 hour delivery of tens of thousands of items), but am constantly annoyed to have to pull out my iPhone to use it. Of course, I presume Amazon is doing a mobile-first rather than a web-never strategy.

What's so terrible about "pulling out your iPhone"?

If I just read a review on my iMac of something I'm ready to buy, it seems ridiculous to lean over and pull out my iPhone.

Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#36
post #2

Unreal. Do they really expect it to cost more to maintain their web presence in addition to their mobile app than their web presence will make them? If you already have a back-end for servicing all of those mobile apps, is having an HTML front-end really that difficult? I vastly prefer doing almost anything I can think of on a real desktop with big displays and a good keyboard over a mobile app. Am I that out of touc…

One reason I haven't seen mentioned yet is that countries like India can be overwhelmingly mobile-dominated (as in, few people own desktops).

I never had data on India but in places like the Philippines or Indonesia (with similar GDP/capita), your buyer's only internet access might come from his (very basic) smartphone and I sometimes saw > 90% mobile visits. At a previous company, we saw our Indonesian traffic soar after we fixed a bug that prevented the site from displaying on Blackberries... somehow an incredibly popular brand in the region.

If 90% of your buyers are on mobile, you might as well become a mobile company, if your IT resources are limited.

The gap between mobile and desktop is closing though, as companies like Xiaomi keep releasing ever cheaper, more powerful and larger devices in those markets. A Redmi (1, 1S, 2...) costs a tenth of an iPhone for 80% of the functionality.

The reach of mobile devices never fails to impress me. We went horseriding a few hours drive from Jiuzhaigou, and after a day of climbing the mountains on horseback, sleeping on the sloped floor of a tent (heated by a dried yak dung fire, of course), it was quite surreal to see all our guides, on horseback, playing mobile games and happily texting away on their 5" smartphones - even as they were herding yaks...

Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#37
post #14

I am an regular Flipkart User, and I do not like this behaviour, Flipkart is forcing me to move to an mobile app, just to have better control and tracking. They have already stopped supporting the mobile website, and it simply instructs you to download the app to continue. This is the moment I have completely stopped using flipkart and moved to amazon.in I like website more than app, both gets the job done, where as…

just deleted flipkart app

Re: India’s Flipkart to shut down website, thanks to popularity of mobile

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting. India the primary way for in app purchase is via the provider. Credit card penetration is low.

Can you clarify what "provider" means? Is it Flipkart or the network (Airtel, etc)?

He means mobile service provider (airtel, vodafone, at&t, etc)
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