India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem • Hacker News Board

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#31

Post by msravi » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 5:39 AM UTC

I stopped using Flipkart when they went pushy with their mobile app. If you went to their website on a mobile, it just insisted that you download the app, with no other option, which I didn't want to do. I just went to amazon.in

Edit: Coming to think of it, as a personal anecdote, I pretty much use the web for a lot of stuff now. News (firefox bookmarks), Social (twitter, linkedin), Shopping (amazon) - it's all the web. There used to be a time when I had privacy/battery sucking apps for them all. I still use apps for Navigation (google maps), Messaging (whatsapp, sms), Mail (gmail), Music (native player), and Cab-hailing (ola) though.

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#32

Post by mandeepj » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 5:39 AM UTC

dingo_bat wrote: post #6

Flipkart has had this coming. They grew too confident, even to the extent of making significantly anti customer moves. Whereas amazon make you feel like you are the center of the universe. Another problem is that amazon's retail business is not a big earner, even after so many years. But all flipkart has is retail. They don't have the technical superiority to do something like aws. Think about it. Flipkart offices ar…

Their engineers are not only maintaining that website, they are - 1. Maintaining app 2. Recommendation service 3. Search 4. Analytics 5. Modeling 6. Handling a website used by millions of users is not an easy thing

Not trying to defend flipkart, only sharing my perspective

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#33

Post by mandeepj » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 5:40 AM UTC

unchaotic wrote: post #24

Amazon has a lot of cash & experience to pamper customers but once it wins over, all that'll change. The best outcome for millions of customers is to have 1 or 2 strong competitors to Amazon that'll be around for a long time to come. Else you'll be stuck with Amazon's monopoly !

Amazon never changed in US. They are number 1 here

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#34

Post by known » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 5:47 AM UTC

1. amzn.in

2. flipkart.com

3. snapdeal.com

AND

4. shopclues.com

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#35

Post by i2rohan » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 6:14 AM UTC

nnain wrote: post #25

Too much negative commentary. Flipkart also did something interesting that fueled their early growth - they offered 'Cash on Delivery' model, cause many people in India don't use Credit/Debit cards for shopping! I never had a bad buying experience with them, but then my shopping has been limited. Must say though that Amazon's recommendation engine and technical prowess in general is superior. I imagine so are Amazon'…

>I never understood such an upmarked Myntra acquisition. Because it was a merger forced upon them by the common investors - Tiger & Accel.

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#36

Post by piyush_soni » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 6:20 AM UTC

pm90 wrote: post #28

thewhitetulip wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

How is it typical of Indian businesses? I feel like this is overgeneralizing that aspect. 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.

It is kind of the general business attitude here, unfortunately.

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#37

Post by parthdesai » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 6:23 AM UTC

msravi wrote: post #31

I stopped using Flipkart when they went pushy with their mobile app. If you went to their website on a mobile, it just insisted that you download the app, with no other option, which I didn't want to do. I just went to amazon.in Edit: Coming to think of it, as a personal anecdote, I pretty much use the web for a lot of stuff now. News (firefox bookmarks), Social (twitter, linkedin), Shopping (amazon) - it's all the w…

Just checked Flipkart's website and it's not even responsive. Horizontal scroll appears at width of 1284 pixel. I think this in 2016 is just insane.

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#38

Post by jdkanani » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 6:28 AM UTC

nnain wrote: post #25

Too much negative commentary. Flipkart also did something interesting that fueled their early growth - they offered 'Cash on Delivery' model, cause many people in India don't use Credit/Debit cards for shopping! I never had a bad buying experience with them, but then my shopping has been limited. Must say though that Amazon's recommendation engine and technical prowess in general is superior. I imagine so are Amazon'…

You underestimated the power of Amazon here - it's not technical prowess or recommendation engine. The war was never about technical prowess. It's Amazon's customer service which pulling Flipkart/Snapdeal down to the ground and beating them hard.

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#39

Post by nnain » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 6:43 AM UTC

i2rohan wrote: post #35

nnain wrote: post #25

Too much negative commentary. Flipkart also did something interesting that fueled their early growth - they offered 'Cash on Delivery' model, cause many people in India don't use Credit/Debit cards for shopping! I never had a bad buying experience with them, but then my shopping has been limited. Must say though that Amazon's recommendation engine and technical prowess in general is superior. I imagine so are Amazon'…

>I never understood such an upmarked Myntra acquisition. Because it was a merger forced upon them by the common investors - Tiger & Accel.

Ah ok, that makes sense. A weakness then that they had to focus on making the merger work and keeping the investors happy, when there were more important things to do.

Re: India's Flipkart Has an Amazon Problem

#40

Post by tn13 » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 6:59 AM UTC

nnain wrote: post #25

Too much negative commentary. Flipkart also did something interesting that fueled their early growth - they offered 'Cash on Delivery' model, cause many people in India don't use Credit/Debit cards for shopping! I never had a bad buying experience with them, but then my shopping has been limited. Must say though that Amazon's recommendation engine and technical prowess in general is superior. I imagine so are Amazon'…

Flipkart was not the first to introduce CoD. CoD in India is an ancient concept. Indian postal service ran a system where one could order products via mail and make the payment at the postal office. If I remember correctly it was called VPP and my grandfather had purchased things like imported Cigars and German radios using this system in 60s. Even in 90s Rediff and Indiatimes offered CoD.