- 1) A fantastic delivery/courier system (in major cities). They have homegrown service that does a reliable job. Courier deliveries in India is a painful experience. I won't be surprised if they spinoff a logistics arm!. To me this is their secret sauce.
- 2) Good customer support. I have bought quite a few things in the last few months and have sent them a few queries for which I have received quick responses. I think they are able to scale this with the current demand.
- 3) Fairly priced (not always the lowest, but definitely on the lower end compared to brick and mortar stores). I have found better deals on other online stores, but have resorted to buying on Flipkart due to their reliability. The key to success in India will be reliability, which is not something the public actually expects, but can become the differentiator.
- 4) Cash on Delivery for most items - Most people here don't use credit cards for online shopping. Cash on delivery is a safe and trusted option. The Junglee linked sites might offer the same option, but it can probably become confusing if some of the stores don't.
Yet, I feel there are areas in which a new entrant can do better and compete (keeping the service on par with flipkart):
- 1) A bigger inventory - I don't find all I need on flipkart. It pales in comparison with Amazon's inventory.
- 2) Product reviews - Right now Flipkart's reviews are just mediocre at best. What we need is more editorial reviews and organic reviews tailored to Indian market. I keep looking up Amazon reviews before purchasing stuff.
- 3) Better inventory management - A lot of popular products I purhase here in Bangalore (where Flipkart is headquartered) seem to ship from Delhi/Chennai. That is a loss of a day or two in delivery. Amazon can be a game changer if they invest in better warehouse management. End of the day for a similar price, the one to deliver quickest will win.
- 4) Better recommendation engine - No guesses why Amazon can recommend better (way higher sales and more data to learn from). Flipkart can get better at this over time, but Amazon can come equipped already.
I am an extremely satisfied customer of Flipkart, but feel it can get better and a new entrant might just make it a a competitive market.