A day after Flipkart announced that they had $1 billion in the bag as funding, Amazon said they will infuse $2 billion in to India operations and expand the business at a rapid pace. The e-commerce fight between the Indian and the global giant is heating up and here is our take of the whole situation and what the consumers can expect.Flipkart started off slow in the initial years, but then picked up lot speed after 2010. Consumers would see the Flipkart branding on walls, hoardings in the city and even in TV commercials. The company left no stone unturned to attract web visitors to its platform to buy anything and everything. After electronics and books, the company introduced fashion apparels along with accessories to the customers.
However, everything was not hunky dory. There are numerous reports in the tabloids and on the web that Flipkart is bleeding money. There were also the debatable reports of users getting empty gadget boxes or boxes with stones/bricks in them instead of the laptop or mobile. But, that did not stop the founding partners, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, to make Flipkart what it is today.
Brands such as Motorola and Xiaomi have picked them up as a preferred partner to sell mobiles. Flipkart is an exclusive partner and to purchase phones from these brands one has to come to its platform. These are not available on offline retail counters or any other online store.
The biggest challenge now in front of the Bansals is the world giant in online sales - Amazon.com. Jeff Bezos considers India as a huge and exploding market and so does the country head of Amazon India, Amit Agarwal. The IIT graduate and Stanford alumnus is in charge of the Indian operations and is the man to beat. Amazon has no money constraints and can infuse lot of capital in the country to take the top spot. The introduction of $2 billion, just a day after Flipkart's $1 billion funding in India, speaks of the aggressive stance Amazon has in the market.
Amidst all the hoo-ha, the consumers are in for a treat. Past has shown us numerous occasions as when two brands go head-to-head the consumers are in a win-win situation. The online buyer pie is increasing but both the companies will try to lure the customers with better service, same day deliveries and even in some cases better discounts.
Till now, Flipkart's model has somewhat worked and consumers do come back to this e-tailer for various buying needs. Amazon is fairly new and needs to make a quick mark with the Indian consumers to get the ball rolling. The next two quarters will be exciting for both the companies, let's see what they come up with next to attract the consumers and make a big buck.
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