Flipkart is connecting more than 5,000 offline

 Flipkart is connecting more than 5,000 offline
brand stores on its platform this festive season

 

~ To offer a large selection across Fashion, Large Appliances, Mobiles and Consumer Electronics categories, from leading retail brands

~ Plans to onboard 10,000 branded retail stores by the end of the year

 Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, continues to strengthen ecosystem partnerships and prioritise the interests of a large group of stakeholders, including customers, sellers, MSMEs, kiranas and offline retail stores. As the country starts preparing for the upcoming festive season and much-awaited Big Billion Days, Flipkart is connecting more than 5,000 offline branded retail stores from 300+ cities across the country on its platform. This includes small and large format brand stores offering products from fashion, large appliances, mobiles and consumer electronics as  part of this programme. Piloted in 2020, when the pandemic impacted these stores, this programme helps offline sellers to leverage Flipkart’s expertise and customer reach to help stores grow their business through technology support.

This holds importance for hundreds of local brands that will be able to showcase their selection and products to lakhs of customers beyond their local catchment area and grow their reach during an important festive period. Piloted in late-2020 for the fashion category, Flipkart’s programme has witnessed very encouraging growth this past year, which has led to the addition of the 3 new categories - large appliances, mobiles and consumer electronics. Flipkart is leveraging technology and advanced inventory management systems to enable these trusted retail stores with the goodness of e-commerce. It covers both metros and T2+ regions, solving the needs of both consumers and brands. Some of these include trusted branded retail chains such as Poorvika in the South region and CMM Arena in the state of Goa. The programme addresses the metro customers’ needs for faster delivery of the latest products and also enables aspirational consumers in Tier-2+ regions to get access to a much wider and latest branded selection. 

Speaking about this important initiative, Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group, said, “At Flipkart, our priority lies in creating a meaningful ecosystem of partners that can reap the benefits of e-commerce, especially during the festive season. Today, we are proud to facilitate PAN-India consumer market access for over 5,000 branded retail stores, which enables them to embrace opportunities driven by the best technology. We look forward to scaling this programme over the next few months and making products from branded retail partners that may be available to a much larger audience across India.”

Speaking about the partnership with Flipkart, Uvaraj Natarajan, Founder & CEO - Poorvika, said, “Poorvika has garnered remarkable loyalty across 425+ stores in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Mumbai, Pune and Trivandrum. Being a trusted offline retail chain and with an aim to grow our footprint across the country, we have partnered with Flipkart. This partnership will help customers to conveniently access all products available at a Poorvika retail store, on Flipkart. We believe our customers will benefit immensely courtesy of technology integration. We look forward to a good festive season with Flipkart.”

 Sharing his views on the partnership with Flipkart this festive season, Hari Kaul, General Manager CMM Arena, said, “CMM Arena is proud to bring a range of large appliances on Flipkart, with an aim to extend our digital presence and engage with customers across a larger geographical reach. This will enable a new phase of growth for CMM Arena as we grow our reach across the length and breadth of Goa through Flipkart.”

Through this programme, Flipkart is creating opportunities for branded retail stores to connect with consumers across the country to deliver the best products. This will continue to elevate the customer’s online shopping experience seamlessly, as people get access to larger selections through a safe and sanitised delivery process. This strategy further strengthens Flipkart’s product portfolio for the much-awaited festive season - especially the 2021 edition of The Big Billion Days.

Flipkart’s various ecosystem-focused initiatives and offline partnerships for this festive season include:

• Kirana for Delivery Programme: Focused on working with general trade stores as delivery partners, today has 100,000 Kiranas from across the country, enabling the delivery of millions of shipments during the festive season
• Flipkart Xtra: Introduced as a service marketplace for providing part-time job opportunities to individuals through an easy self-onboarding app on the Google play store.
• Authorised BuyZone Programme: Works with thousands of general stores as affiliate partners to assist customers in shopping online for their needs and simplifying their purchase journey on the Flipkart marketplace

Flipkart and Myntra Join Hands with Canopy to

             Flipkart and Myntra Join Hands with Canopy to                     Advance Sustainability Efforts and Conserve Forests

• Sign up for Canopy’s Pack4Good (for packaging) and CanopyStyle (for fashion) initiatives
• To support approaches and systems to eliminate the use of materials derived from ancient and endangered forests in its use of packaging, paper or man-made cellulosic fibers

Flipkart Group, India’s homegrown consumer internet ecosystem including Flipkart, and Myntra, one of India’s leading fashion and lifestyle destinations, announcing its commitment to responsible sourcing of sustainable packaging and man-made cellulosic fibers in collaboration with not-for-profit environmental organisation Canopy.

Flipkart and Myntra recognise the role of the world’s forests in maintaining climate stability, preserving biodiversity, and protecting the rights of Indigenous communities. The companies have joined Canopy’s Pack4Good and CanopyStyle initiatives to extend their sustainability commitment to move towards sustainable packaging and material sourcing. Recently, they also announced a shift away from single-use plastics in their packaging with the introduction of the most scalable sustainable alternatives such as eco-friendly paper shreds, replacing poly pouches with recycled paper bags, replacing bubble wraps with carton waste shredded material and 2 Ply roll to name a few.

As signatories of Canopy’s Pack4Good (packaging) and CanopyStyle (fashion) initiatives, the two Flipkart Group companies will shift towards sustainable sourcing of forest-derived products and pilot alternative next-generation solutions to transition away from forests for raw materials. For this commitment, Flipkart and Myntra will focus on the following activities over the next three years:

• Exploring sourcing or designing of reusable/refillable shipping boxes to reduce corrugated paper and paperboard
• Encouraging the use of recycled, reusable and/or FSC certified paper and packaging as well as sourcing products with responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fibres
• Design and implement e-commerce, shipping, display and wrapping systems that minimize the use of packaging materials
• Increase utilization of recycled materials in packaging
• Utilize reusable packaging systems for intra business applications
• Increase the use of digital communication, marketing and accounting systems
• Adopt best practices including researching and applying emerging and circular economy innovations.
• Increasing the use of responsibly sourced man-made cellulosic fibre for in-house products including rayon/viscose, lyocell, and modal
  

“India has incredible potential to be a global leader in the production of Next Gen packaging and clothing and this partnership with Flipkart and Myntra turbo charges efforts to scale these climate-saving solutions on a meaningful timeline,” said Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director at Canopy. “We applaud Flipkart Group’s leadership and look forward to collaborating with them to realize these ambitious goals.”

Hemant Badri, Senior Vice-President and Head of Supply Chain at Flipkart said, “Flipkart as a homegrown e-commerce marketplace is committed to creating a sustainable environment by sourcing responsibly while creating sustainable alternatives for business needs. In this endeavour, we are so pleased to be joining both CanopyStyle and the Pack4Good initiatives, in order to save the world’s ancient and endangered forests. We look forward to a close collaboration that will allow us to open up a new sourcing stream for packaging and will fuel change in other key operational areas as well, inculcating sustainability initiatives in logistics, infrastructure, energy efficiency, and more.”

Neetu Jotwani, Vice-President and Head of Sourcing, Myntra, said, “Myntra is committed to sustainability and has always been at the forefront of industry-first initiatives that reduce carbon footprint while encouraging recycling across the entire supply chain and manufacturing processes to make them more eco-friendly. This association with Canopy and the adoption of CanopyStyle for fashion and Pack4Good for packaging is a major step towards our goal of further eliminating single plastic use and increasing environment-friendly practices.” 

Responsible forestry and ensuring there is no sourcing from the world’s Ancient and Endangered Forests is a critical step toward sustainability and this policy will successfully aid the Flipkart Group’s mission. With Canopy’s support, it will continue to transform supply chains into life-affirming value chains.

Flipkart to acquire Cleartrip, a leading

 Flipkart to acquire Cleartrip, a leading
online travel technology company

Flipkart, India's homegrown e-commerce marketplace today announced the proposed acquisition of Cleartrip, a leading online travel technology company. Flipkart will acquire 100% of Cleartrip’s shareholding, as the company further enhances its investments to strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers.    

Under the terms of the agreement, Cleartrip operations will be acquired by Flipkart. Cleartrip will continue to operate as a separate brand, retaining all employees while working closely with Flipkart to further develop technology solutions to make travel simple for customers.    

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, “The Flipkart Group is committed to transforming customer experiences through digital commerce. Cleartrip is synonymous with travel for many customers, and as we diversify and look at new areas of growth, this investment will help strengthen our wide range of offerings for customers. We welcome the Cleartrip team with their deep industry knowledge and technology capabilities to the Flipkart Group and look forward to providing deeper value and travel experiences for customers together.”                    

Stuart Crighton, CEO and co-founder of Cleartrip, said, “Cleartrip has been a pioneer in capitalising on technology to simplify the travel experience for our customers. This product-driven focus has enabled us to become the preferred travel partner of choice for consumers in a wide range of markets in the region. We are delighted to be part of the Flipkart family and are excited about the positive impact this collaboration can have for our customers and the travel industry in general."

The deal closing will be subject to applicable regulatory approvals.   

Flipkart Group and ABFRL enter into a

Flipkart Group and ABFRL enter into a strategic partnership

Aim to strengthen omni-channel capabilities and enhance the consumer fashion experience

  The Flipkart Group and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (“ABFRL”) today announced a new strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the consumer fashion experience. Through an investment of INR1,500 crores, Flipkart Investments will acquire a ~7.8% stake in ABFRL, as the companies partner to leverage synergies in the fashion segment.

 ABFRL will use this capital to strengthen its balance sheet and propel its growth ambition with renewed vigour. The company plans to scale-up its play in emerging high-growth fashion categories viz. innerwear/ athleisure, casual wear and ethnic wear, establishing these as the new engines of growth for the company. Furthermore, ABFRL will accelerate the execution of its large-scale digital transformation strategy that will deepen its consumer connect and augment its backend capabilities; positioning it amongst the most comprehensive omni-channel fashion players in the country. 

Through this partnership, the Flipkart Group will strengthen the range of brands offered on its e-commerce platforms Flipkart and Myntra, deepening its relationship with ABFRL, and enhancing the range of premium international and Indian brands on offer. Flipkart’s technology prowess will enhance ABFRL’s omni-channel capabilities, enriching customer experiences while continuing to provide access to premium loyalty programs and affordability constructs for which Flipkart is known.

 Speaking on this development, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, “At the Flipkart Group, we are focused on building new partnerships that will help us meet the demands of the discerning Indian consumer who seek quality and value. Through this partnership with ABFRL, we will work towards making available a wide range of products for fashion-conscious consumers across different retail formats across the country. We look forward to working with ABFRL and its well established and comprehensive fashion and retail infrastructure as we address the promising opportunity of the apparel industry in India.”

Commenting on the deal, Mr. Ashish Dikshit, MD of ABFRL, said, “We look forward to this partnership with Flipkart Group, and our collective journey to delight customers of a young and aspirational India. Given the complementary strengths of ABFRL and Flipkart Group, this partnership has the potential to dramatically accelerate the growth of the apparel industry in India and reshape apparel commerce. This deal also provides a tremendous opportunity to build scale of existing brands and expand its brand portfolio into emerging consumer segments.”

 The Transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

Walmart and Flipkart Group make additional investment in

 Walmart and Flipkart Group make additional investment in Ninjacart

Walmart and the Flipkart Group today announced a fresh round of investment in Ninjacart, the innovative startup disrupting India’s fresh produce market with its made-for-India business-to-business (B2B) supply chain infrastructure and technology solutions. This follows the investment made by Walmart and the Flipkart Group in December 2019, as the companies continue to focus on ensuring access to high quality fresh produce for consumers and retailers while creating economic opportunities for farmers through the continued use of technology. 

For Ninjacart, this further deepens the partnership with Walmart and the Flipkart Group to improve its offerings and enhance customer experience. Ninjacart continues to attract world-class backers such as Tiger Global, Accel, Tanglin, Steadview, Syngenta, Nandan Nilekani and Qualcomm among other prominent investors.

During the COVID lockdowns, Ninjacart demonstrated agility and innovation by launching a series of initiatives such as apartment delivery, including a ‘Farm to fork’ pilot with Flipkart, customer delivery through food delivery apps, ‘Harvest the Farms’ initiative, etc. in a week's time to help both customers and farmers. Also in an Industry-first move, Ninjacart launched ‘FoodPrint’ — a 100% traceability platform for its products during the COVID lockdown to improve the food safety.

This second round of funding demonstrates Walmart and the Flipkart Group’s continued commitment to invest in India’s agriculture & food supply chain and strong confidence in Ninjacart. The follow-on investment further validates Ninjacart’s strong execution capabilities and its ability to innovate in the challenging fresh food supply chain space.

As Flipkart grows its Supermart (grocery) and Flipkart Quick (hyperlocal business), Ninjacart will continue to play a key role in providing fresh produce to consumers across the country as they increasingly look at e-grocery to meet their needs.

Ninjacart has developed many indigenous solutions that work for India at scale — it has built India’s low-cost last-mile network using an innovative network model coupled with data science. It’s less-than-12 hours connectivity from farm to store helps avoid the need for control temperature supply chain for perishable goods.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, “The e-grocery market in India has seen tremendous growth over the past several months as people have increasingly taken to ordering groceries and fresh produce online. At the Flipkart Group, we are focused on ensuring that we continue to work towards developing new and innovative ways to meet our customers' needs in this space through the growth of Supermart and the recent launch of Flipkart Quick. We will continue to make investments to offer the best produce to our customers and support livelihoods and sustainable growth for local farmers, producers and the supply chain ecosystem. Our pilots and current business engagement with Ninjacart have been encouraging as we leverage technology to address changing consumer behaviour across the country.”

Commenting on the announcement Thirukumaran Nagarajan, CEO & Co-founder of Ninjacart said, “The fresh set of investments from Walmart and the Flipkart Group takes us one step closer to our vision of making food safe and accessible for the billion people and changing the way food reaches our plate. We are excited to have Walmart and the Flipkart Group show confidence in our capabilities around growth and profitability. We will continue to invest in areas that impact the lives of Customers and Farmers positively.”

In the coming months, Ninjacart will use the capital to expand to new markets and build new offerings and supply chains for emerging customer segments, while continuing to innovate on the supply chain to make it more efficient, reliable, and profitable.

The transaction is expected to close by the end October 2020.

Flipkart pledges 100% transition to

Flipkart pledges 100% transition to electric vehicles by 2030; commits to the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative

-    First Indian e-commerce marketplace to join the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative

-      Commits to the electrification of logistics fleet across Flipkart Group of companies, integrating charging infrastructure and encouraging uptake by its

staff

Demonstrating a commitment to long-term sustainability across its e-commerce value chain, Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace today announced its commitment to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) by joining the Climate Group’s global electric mobility initiative, EV100. EV100 brings together forward-looking companies committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and making electric transport the new normal by 2030.

As a part of this commitment and to support wider adoption of EVs, Flipkart is committing to a phased integration of electric vehicles into its entire fleet (directly owned or leased corporate fleets) by 2030. This will be done through placing requirements in service contracts, installing charging infrastructure close to its 1,400 supply chain premises, conducting awareness programs and incentivizing delivery executives towards the use of electric vehicles. Evangelising EVs across the breadth of its ecosystem of employees, delivery partners and workers, Flipkart will spearhead the sector’s sustainability transformation, and support India’s ambition of ensuring 30% electric mobility by 2030.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, “As a homegrown company, we always pride ourselves in making e-commerce more inclusive, progressive and impactful for all our stakeholders, which also includes communities and the planet. We have been applying this ethos to the indigenous market to serve our consumer’s needs responsibly and consciously. Our commitment to the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative ties in with this larger vision of environmental sustainability and allows us to learn from the most forward-thinking global perspectives as part of the EV100 ecosystem. With our scale & scope and intense focus on Sustainability agenda, we believe we can play a significant role in not just fast tracking the adoption of electric vehicles but also making clean mobility mainstream.”

Flipkart has a strong vision towards sustainability and has proactively and successfully adopted several sustainable practices across its business operations. Electrification of its entire logistics fleet is a key part of Flipkart’s larger sustainability goal and the EV100 commitment is in line with that. Over the past year, Flipkart has worked towards creating a wide network of ecosystem partners across charging providers, regulators, policy makers, skill development agencies, aggregators and OEMs to work on various areas. These include designing and the manufacturing of EVs optimized for e-commerce while supporting market demand for EVs to emerge as a mainstream mobility solution.

Divya Sharma, India Executive Director, Climate Group, said, “The Climate Group is thrilled to see Flipkart signing up to EV100 and step up to lead the adoption of electric vehicles in the e-commerce sector in India. Flipkart will play a significant role in fostering innovation in technology and exchanging knowledge on e-mobility within our global network of committed

businesses. To help make swift emissions cuts and improve air quality for the long-term, we urge more Indian companies to follow suit, sending a powerful signal of support to policymakers wishing to see a faster roll-out of EVs.”

As the first e-commerce player in India to join the globally recognized EV100 initiative, Flipkart is uniquely placed to further EV100’s goal of catalyzing corporate leadership for Electric Vehicles uptake in India. This will also be an opportunity to learn from over 70 forward-looking companies from across the globe, committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs).

Flipkart is focused on fostering sustainable practices across its business and value chain. The company has been driving several initiatives towards its vision of sustainable growth. Flipkart has committed to reducing single-use plastic packaging in its supply chain and has already achieved a 51 per cent reduction in consumption of plastic packaging. Flipkart is also the only e-commerce company to have an industry-first EPR authorization where we have committed to collecting back the entire weight of the packaging that we use. Flipkart has also been focused on resource efficiency within its operations by increasing the use of renewable energy for its power needs and introducing projects to increase the overall energy productivity, as well as encouraging zero liquid discharge of wastewater in its warehouses. Its strategic facilities have received an ISO 14001 certification, a crucial benchmark for the preparedness to prevent environmental pollution in the workplace. Flipkart’s data centre in Hyderabad runs largely on renewable energy and many of its large warehouse projects are being constructed in line with IGBC's Green Building Guidelines.

Flipkart Group raises new equity round with

Flipkart Group raises new equity round with Walmart-led investor group, valuing company at $24.9 billion post-money

$1.2 billion investment will support Flipkart's ongoing efforts to develop India's homegrown eCommerce marketplace as country emerges from pandemic

Flipkart Group today closed an additional $1.2 billion equity round to support continued development of its eCommerce marketplace as India emerges from the Covid-19 crisis. The investment is led by Walmart, Flipkart Group's majority owner, along with a group of existing shareholders and values the company at $24.9 billion post-money. It will be funded in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal year.

"We're grateful for the strong backing of our shareholders as we continue to build our platform and serve the growing needs of Indian consumers during these challenging times," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said. "Since Walmart's initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. Today, we lead in electronics and fashion, and are rapidly accelerating share in other general merchandise categories and grocery, all while providing increasingly seamless payment and delivery options for our customers. We will continue innovating to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online."

Founded in 2007, the Flipkart Group includes Flipkart, digital payments platform PhonePe, fashion specialty site Myntra and eKart, a logistics and delivery service focused on solving the last mile in India's Tier II and Tier III cities. In 2018, Walmart Inc. invested $16 billion for a majority stake in the group.

Flipkart recently surpassed 1.5 billion visits per month and reported 45-percent growth in monthly active customers and 30-percent growth in transactions per customer for FY20. The company is democratizing commerce by providing sellers and MSMEs access to a national market and by investing in technology such as voice assistants and local language interfaces to help make shopping easier for non-English speaking customers. Today, Flipkart offers 150 million products across more than 80 categories, and has pioneered customer-centric services such as Cash-on-Delivery, No-Cost EMI and easy returns. PhonePe recently reported annualized total payments value (TPV) of $180 billion on more than 500 million monthly transactions.

"Flipkart continues to leverage its culture of innovation to accelerate growth and enable millions of customers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to prosper and be a part of India's digital transformation," said Judith McKenna, President and CEO of Walmart International. "Kalyan and team have a clear vision and are relentlessly focused on giving Indians frictionless choice in how they shop and sell online. We're excited to see what the future holds as they continue their journey to become India's most trusted eCommerce marketplace."

Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions Strengthen

Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions Strengthen Partnership

Focus on addressing the needs of the fashion-conscious Indian youth

The Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions (AFL) today strengthened their partnership, through an investment of INR 260 crore by the Flipkart Group to purchase a significant minority stake in AFL's recently formed subsidiary Arvind Youth Brands which owns the Flying Machine brand. This investment builds on the long-standing engagement between the two organizations that have been working together for several years to address the demands and needs of the fashion-conscious youth in India.

An iconic Indian brand with a 40-year legacy, Flying Machine has been retailing on the Flipkart Group platforms of Flipkart and Myntra for more than six years. A denim-first brand, Flying Machine is amongst the leading denim brands in India. With its brand legacy, design sensibilities and youth appeal, the brand is seen as a strong style partner across metros and smaller tier towns. Through this investment, the Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions will work collaboratively to identify opportunities and synergies to innovate and develop products with strong value propositions at attractive price points.

Speaking on the investment, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart Group, said, "Flying Machine is a brand that is known in households across India, popular with the youth and synonymous with value and style. Through this investment, we look forward to partnering with the team at Arvind Youth Brands to continue to grow the market for its portfolio of products and enhance the strong brand equity that has been built over the last few decades."

J. Suresh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Arvind Fashions, said, "The partnership with the Flipkart Group will help us accelerate our online growth strategy as we focus our efforts on developing an omni-channel retail approach for Arvind Youth Brands and Flying Machine. Given the strong existing relationship with the Flipkart Group, and their presence in online fashion, it was an obvious choice for us to enter into this engagement through which Flipkart and Myntra will be our preferred online partner for the Flying Machine brand, while we continue to grow our offline sales through channels like exclusive brand stores, department stores and multi-brand stores."

The transaction is subject to customary conditions precedent.

Metta Capital Advisors acted as the financial advisors to AFL for this transaction.

Flipkart introduces 3 new regional language

Flipkart introduces 3 new regional language interfaces to make ecommerce more inclusive

• Introduces Tamil, Telugu and Kannada interfaces to offer native language e-commerce experience to consumers
• The made for India tech stack has been developed in house by Flipkart’s team of engineers
• Over 5.4 million words translated to help reduce the language barrier for users

Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, today enabled three new languages on its platform - Tamil, Telugu and Kannada as part of its vision to make online commerce more inclusive and accessible for Indian language users. This launch will help reduce the access barriers to e-commerce for native language speakers. Following the launch of Hindi interface last year, the new regional languages interface have been built on Flipkart’s ‘Localization and Translation Platform’ that will empower customers to comfortably undertake an  end-to-end ecommerce journey in their local language, with ease.

The introduction of 3 vernacular interfaces, is in line with Flipkart’s aim of developing state-of-the-art innovations to solve for the various pain points of consumers transitioning to e-commerce. According to industry reports*, Indian language internet users are expected to account for nearly 75% of India’s internet user base by 2021.

This growing base of language users, primarily from smaller towns, makes it extremely important to enable e-commerce in regional languages to offer a more personalised experience. This will also enable millions of consumers  across the country to have an engaging online shopping experience in their native languages. As Southern states account for a significant proportion of Flipkart’s growing user base coupled with a higher adoption rate of native language script, regional language interfaces will help make e-commerce more inclusive.

User Research

The new language interfaces use a judicious mix of translated and transliteration of words to make shopping more engaging for consumers. This follows an ethnographic study that was conducted over several months to get relevant insights that helped the team develop a platform that enables consumers to interact with the platform in their own language and encourage independence in purchase decisions.

The ethnography study involving meetings with participants across cities including Salem, Visakhapatnam and Mysore helped gather insights about consumers’ distinctive language behaviour across these regions and brought forward interesting insights to be implemented. This included a large scale translation of over 5.4 million words across product specifications, banners and payment pages etc., in the three languages.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer of Flipkart Group, said, “In the past year, we have introduced multiple solutions under Voice, Video and Vernacular to increase ecommerce adoption for millions of consumers. We truly believe that language, if solved well, can be an opportunity rather than a barrier to reach millions of consumers who have been underserved. As a homegrown e-commerce marketplace, we understand India and its diversity in a more nuanced way and are building products that have the potential to bring a long-term change. The introduction of Tamil, Telugu and Kannada interfaces, in addition to Hindi & English, is a meaningful step in that direction in line with our mission to democratize ecommerce in India.”

Jeyandran Venugopal, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Flipkart said, “As a homegrown e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart understands the importance of having an expanded universe of vernacular interfaces to empower our Bharat users and ensure easy transition of new online users to e-commerce. Today, almost 58% of our user base comes from tier-II cities and beyond and with new language interfaces of Tamil,  Telugu and Kannada along with Hindi (introduced last year) will further improve users’ ecommerce journeys by making it simpler and more personal.”

The three new language interfaces on Flipkart, are developed post the introduction of Hindi interface 9 months ago which has witnessed impressive adoption. Flipkart’s team of engineers worked on multiple tech challenges in terms of UI and platform architecture, as each language has its own nuanced characteristics.

Flipkart’s Smart Assistive Interface Saathi aims

Flipkart’s Smart Assistive Interface ‘Saathi’ aims to handhold first-time e-commerce users using audio-visual navigation

Aims to handhold new users, with a combination of text and audio-visual experience for product discovery

 Flipkart, India’s leading homegrown e-commerce marketplace, today announced the introduction of a ‘Smart Assistive Interface’ feature called ‘Flipkart Saathi’ to support first-time e-commerce users on the platform and enhance their overall shopping experience. This first-of-a-kind feature from Flipkart is available in Hindi and English to start with and is Flipkart’s attempt towards further humanising e-commerce. With this feature, Flipkart aims to empower consumers across tier II, III cities and beyond in rural India, as it seeks to bring the next 200 million consumers online.

The assistive interface feature (audio-guided navigation) aims at mimicking the typical real-life shopping experience for consumers who are comfortable being assisted by a salesperson. It uses a combination of text and audio-based instructions to guide new users in their e-commerce journey. This includes a list of key actions in the form of pop-up texts followed by audio for a better understanding. As audio is simple to follow and offers relatability, consumers can follow the instructions in a more immersive manner.  

The Voice of Convenience

Industry research suggests that 90% of new internet users in India are native language speakers, hence it becomes imperative to offer a native e-commerce experience to impart familiarity, comfort and aid in decision making. With this assistive interface, users will be able to see relevant information and search for their desired products in Hindi – a language whose internet user base is expected to outgrow English in India by the year 2021.

Flipkart undertook extensive research for nearly a year, speaking with consumers yet to transact on e-commerce, and occasional users in tier-II cities to understand how assistive interface as a concept, resonates with end users. In its study, the company realised that while new users are able to skim through some products on their own, filtering options and choosing brands or variants is where they required assistance and hence, audio visual guided navigation becomes essential. Through consecutive studies, Flipkart tested initial concepts and recorded how users react to onboarding, flow and what value they derive from assistive interfaces.

   

Solving for India

The smart assistive interface will play a significant role in eliminating obstructions to e-commerce and offers a sequential way of learning how to shop online. This will in turn reduce consumers’ reliance on others to experience e-commerce and empower them to experience e-commerce independently. Furthermore, it will help offline users transitioning to e-commerce to input in the correct language, offering them the ability to do tasks faster and enhance their  confidence. The feature will also be made available in other regional language interfaces in the coming months.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Group Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart, said, “ Flipkart is committed to bringing the next 200 million consumers online and solving for that in every possible manner. Our talented technology team has worked hard to make Hindi interface and Smart Assistive Interface available to consumers at a time when an increasing number of consumers from smaller cities are getting access to data. This personalisation of technology is a key element of our vision for Bharat and all our innovations are centred around this. As 80-90% of our resources are devoted towards building the ecosystem for Bharat, we are confident of such initiatives bringing about a massive change in our efforts to democratize e-commerce in India.” 

  

Jeyandran Venugopal, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Flipkart, said, “When solved well, language becomes more of a convenience than a barrier. Our efforts in this direction have been very satisfying, including the launch of Hindi interface and now the Smart Assistive Interface. This initiative will further make it easier for consumers especially in Tier-II cities & beyond  to access & enjoy an online shopping experience. Through the combination of cutting-edge tech with our robust understanding of the diverse consumer base in India, the Flipkart team has created an offering to simplify e-commerce. It will bring us closer to our goal of democratizing e-commerce, bringing inclusivity, and onboarding the next set of consumers.

Flipkart celebrates success of marketplace sellers/MSMEs

Recognises and rewards sellers including top woman seller, first TBBD seller, and top Samarth artisan post festive season

After sellers witnessed record sales during Flipkart’s The Big Billion Days (TBBD) this year, India’s leading e-commerce marketplace hosted a gala event to recognise sellers, MSMEs and artisans for their hard work and participation during the festive period. Held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, the event, hosted by Sunil Grover, was attended by hundreds of sellers and featured performances from Jaqueline Fernandez and Badshah.

Over 1,500 sellers from across the country were in attendance at the event. A wide range of sellers were awarded for their accomplishments during TBBD in categories such as ‘Top Woman Flipstar’, ‘Most Trusted Seller’, ‘Most Reliable Flipstar’, ‘TBBD First Innings’ and ‘Going Beyond Limitations (Samarth)’.

Flipkart is focused on bridging the gap between Bharat and India, for its consumers and sellers, and has undertaken concerted efforts to reach every corner of the nation and onboard sellers from tier 2 and 3 cities. Consequently, there has been a 50% growth in the number of sellers participating in TBBD’19 as compared to TBBD’18.  

Flipkart has unveiled several initiatives to empower the seller ecosystem, with TBBD enabling Flipkart to impact the ecosystem on a tremendous scale. Some of the key growth trends that Flipkart’s seller base has witnessed during TBBD include:

Over 1,35,000 artisans and weavers participated in TBBD for the first time through Flipkart Samarth

Participants in Samarth saw over 100% growth in sales during TBBD’19

By the close of Day 2, ~25,000 sellers crossed their total sales of TBBD’18 (5-day sale)

50% of the top sellers on Flipkart witnessed 3X growth

Almost 50% growth in the number of new seller cities

Over 40% of transacting sellers during TTBBD were from Tier 2 and beyond towns

According to Shahnawaz, a differently-abled artisan with Jaipur-based ComfortZone, TBBD was a special time. He said, “This was my first TBBD and the first experience of something on this scale, and it was fantastic. I have never seen so many sales in my business. Thanks to the platform for helping me gain this visibility. I was able to scale up to an 1800 sq ft setup from a small room, in just a couple of months. I even ended up hiring more hands because of the increase in sales. It has been a good period, and I hope it continues like this.”

Flipkart is driving inclusive growth by empowering more sellers and MSMEs from smaller towns to participate in e-commerce and benefit from it. The success of The Big Billion Days 2019 helped many small sellers, budding, rural and women entrepreneurs and artisans contribute to India’s economy and generate many local jobs. 

Flipkart launches ‘MarQ TurboStream’ streaming stick designed to turn regular TVs into Smart TVs

       Enables consumers to convert a regular TV into a smart TV

  Android OS ensures familiarity, ease of use, and full access to Google Play apps

 The streaming stick is available on Flipkart, starting at INR 3,499

 Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce marketplace, has launched a streaming stick under its private brand ‘MarQ by Flipkart’, foraying into a segment that is rapidly gaining traction with Indian consumers. The ‘MarQ TurboStream’ device is equipped with the latest Android 9.0 OS and  leverages the familiarity, ease, and functionality of Google’s widely popular operating system. It is available on the Flipkart platform starting at INR 3,499.

‘MarQ TurboStream’ is equipped with industry-leading features. The device is designed specifically for value shoppers who are looking to buy more affordable non-smart TVs and turn them into smart TVs. It comes with Full HD resolution of 1920*1080 at 60 frames per second; 1 GB DDR3 RAM; 8GB ROM; and streaming support for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi. It sports Dolby Digital Audio and a voice-controlled remote with Google Assistant. Moreover, unlike other products in the market, MarQ TurboStream leverages the power of the latest Android 9.0 and offers several advantages to consumers. With built-in Chromecast, it allows users to cast their mobile phone screens onto the TV and supports all apps available on the Google Play Store.

Resolution	1920*1080 at 60 frames per second
RAM	DDR3 1GB
ROM	8GB
Operating System	Android 9.0
Built-in Chromecast	Yes
Dual Streaming Wi-Fi	2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
Sound system	Dolby Digital Audio

Adarsh Menon, Senior Vice President – Private Brands, Electronics and Furniture, Flipkart, said, “Flipkart’s Private Brands strategy has always focused on helping our consumers realise their aspirations, without having to compromise on design or their budget. Appetite for streaming devices and Smart TVs has been growing in India, particularly outside the top metros. The MarQ TurboStream is designed for these customers, to help them turn their regular TVs into Smart TVs. With the Android operating system being so popular in the country, the user interface of our streaming device will be familiar and will help customers adapt to the new technology quickly. Through this latest offering, we are once again bringing to the Indian market a product of unmatched quality, crafted to meet the needs of our consumers.”

According to  a joint study by ASSOCHAM and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dec 2018, the over the top (OTT) video market in India, primarily comprising of content streaming services, is expected to be among the top ten markets in the world, with a size of $823 million by the year 2022.

Flipkart extends support to Sadbhavana Project of the Indian Army

Students visit its state-of-the-art warehouse in Bangalore under the Confidence Building Exercise

  Flipkart, India’s homegrown leading e-commerce marketplace, recently offered the use of its state-of-the-art warehouses in Bangalore to the Indian Army for conducting a Confidence Building Tour for college students of Jammu & Kashmir’s (J&K) Reasi District. The Tour was a part of the Sadbhavana Project by the Indian Army, under which it is carrying out various programs to strengthen knowledge building and upliftment of the youth of J&K. It aimed to inform youngsters of the economic growth possibilities in the country. Fifteen students along with Indian Army Officers visited the Flipkart warehouse and learnt about the key supply chain functions and how technology is leveraged to connect and deliver to the farthest of places in India.

Said Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Flipkart, “As a socially responsible organization we are honoured to have been able to extend support to the Indian Army’s initiative to help provide learning opportunities to the students of the J&K region. Our team ensured that all their inquisitive questions were answered, and they took back industry understanding and learning with them. We will ensure that Flipkart continues to be part of such opportunities in the future as well and continue to contribute to the process of nation-building.”

Flipkart has, in the recent past, undertaken initiatives of its own to upskill its workforce and to bring more people from India’s socio-economically weaker communities into the fold of the mainstream economy. These programs have benefited both consumers and sellers, and created employment opportunities for many thousands.

Best festive offers during Flipkart’s The Big Billion Days

Lakhs of sellers, artisans and brands to bring the best festive offers during Flipkart’s The Big Billion Days

Sellers, artisans and brands across the nation will come together to help Flipkart kick off the sixth edition of its The Big Billion Days this week. This year, sellers, artisans and brands from the length and breadth of the country have curated a unique range of products and offers only for Flipkart’s customers. Flipkart has also designed several affordability solutions for its customers, in partnership with leading financial institutions, to empower Indians shopping this festive season. Flipkart Plus customers will have exclusive early access starting at 8:00pm on September 28th and September 29th.

With 80 categories, over 150 million products, lakhs of brands, 1 lakh plus sellers from over 2000 cities and towns, and for the first time 1.35 lakh artisans, The Big Billion Days this year will be the biggest and best for the entire ecosystem.

Highlights: The Big Billion Days 2019

Top things to look out for this BBD Avail 10% instant discount with savings upto ₹10,000 on Axis Bank Credit and Debit Cards and on ICICI credit cards The first Edition of ‘Big Billion Days Specials’ will see a unique range of curated products from 40 key brands across categories Over ₹100 cr worth of rewards to be won through exciting new games A first-of-its-kind Mobiles Exchange Program, will help consumers get a reasonable price for their old mobile phones against the purchase of a new device in the same category Complete Mobile Protection plan with a BuyBack program is designed to enable customers to secure their phones and ensure a buy back value within 13 months Complete Appliance Protection plan with a 3-year coverage against damage and 30-day ‘Keep or Exchange’ plan on TVs and appliances Opportunity to earn 4x SuperCoins with Flipkart partners - on using Ola, Zomato, Oyo, 1MG and more and upto 20% back as SuperCoins on every partner transaction Through Flipkart Samarth, over 1.35 lakh artisans, craftsmen, and weavers will be participating in TBBD for the first time, bringing their handicrafts to millions of shoppers Big Billion Days Specials The Big Billion Days Specials program brings limited edition collectables, innovative products and the most exciting launches specially for Big Billion Days Top participating brand creations include: Nescafe’s Ultimate Coffee Kit; Marvel’s limited edition Avengers action figures; Raymond’s Khadi - The Story Respun series online for the first time; Google Home Mini in the Pantone shade of the Year; ASUS’ flagship ROG Phone 2; ONLY X Ananya Pandey line; and a designer vanity box by Gillette Venus, among others First Big Billion Days for Artisans 1.35 lakh artisans, craftsmen, and weavers will be participating in India’s biggest festive event this year for the first time Millions of pan-India consumers will be able to shop for ethnicwear, home decor, art, and handicrafts on Flipkart Top Callouts for Flipkart Plus customers Up to ₹5,000/- extra off on Mobiles, Electronics, Fashion, TVs and Appliances through exclusive SuperCoin deals Up to 99% off when you pay using SuperCoins: hundreds of products at Re. 1 (plus SuperCoins redemption) and extra up to 25% off on 5 lakh+ products Plus members who shop and spend big with SuperCoins will be rewarded with special experiences, such as the chance to meet Alia Bhatt, Jasprit Bumrah, free holidays and SunBurn Goa passes Mega rewards from Tinder, PubG, Zee5, Dominos, BookmyShow and More Top Affordability Levers Credit extension to 55 million customers through Flipkart's own innovations such as Flipkart Pay Later, Cardless Credit and Debit Card EMIs With Cardless Credit, facilitated by bank partners, customers can get credit up to ₹1 lakh to shop big during The Big Billion Days and Pay with No Cost EMI on select tenures 10% instant discount on Axis Bank Credit and Debit Cards and ICICI Bank Credit Cards. With Flipkart Pay Later, customers get to shop during the sale and pay later with an additional ₹50 off on first-ever transaction on Flipkart Pay Later Additionally, customers will get a never before offer of 10% instant discount + 5% cashback during The Big Billion Days on the Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card Other payment offers include No Cost EMIs on leading bank debit and credit cards and on Bajaj Finserv EMI Cards. Top Offers from Sellers and Brands across Categories Flipkart sellers have brought the best prices of the year on the biggest selection ○      Realme C2 starting at ₹5,999 for 32GB down from the MRP of ₹7,999 ○      Redmi Note 7 Pro at ₹11,999 with extra ₹1,000 off on exchange ○      Samsung Galaxy S9+ at an incredible price of ₹34,999 down from the MRP of ₹70,000 Upto 75% off on TVs and appliances, best affordable prices on 5,000 top Brands and 50,000+ products Upto 90% off on electronic gadgets and accessories such as laptops, headphones, cameras, tablets and more ○      Apple Watch Series 3 starting at ₹14,999 (MRP: ₹28,990) ○      Minimum ₹25,000 off on gaming laptops from Acer, Asus, MSI and more ○      JBL Flip3 Bluetooth Speakers at ₹3,999 Upto 90% off on 1,000+ fashion brands ○      Sports shoes from Nike, Adidas, Puma starting ₹999 ○      Watches from Titan, Fastrack, Casio at flat 25-50% off ○      T-shirts, shirts and denims from Lee, Wrangler, Jack and Jones, UCB at min 65% off Upto 90% off on furniture and mattresses, including beds, sofas, wardrobes, dining sets and more ○      1 lakh+ products and 1000+ brands ○      Cash On Delivery available first time on furniture, No Cost EMI starting as low as ₹600 per month (12 month EMI) ○      Wooden queen beds, 3-seater sofas, 3-door wardrobes starting at ₹6999 Upto 90% off on 10 lakh+ beauty and grooming products ○      Min 50% off on Lakme, Nivea, Himalaya and more ○      Upto 50% off on premium and international beauty brands such as Face Shop, Body Shop, Kaya, Kama and more ○      Upto 90% off on toys, books and more, starting from ₹49 ○      30-50% off on Barbie, Hotwheels, Nerf, Fisher Price, Lego and more ○      Diapers from top brands at 30-50% off  ○      Top books by Amish Tripathi, Sadhguru, Chetan Bhagat and more at 60% off Upto 90% off on home decor, furnishing and kitchen essentials ○      Complete home makeover under ₹999. ○      Bombay Dyeing bedsheets and curtains from ₹299 ○      3-burner gas stoves from top brands starting at ₹1599