Amazon vs. Flipkart: Will Flipkart Lose its Sheen?

Once a leading e-commerce player and now a hotbed of gossip, the controversial company Flipkart seems to be in a running battle with Amazon and other rivals. Here are the reports that confirm so.

According to Barclay’s, Amazon ($7.5 billion) has overtaken Flipkart ($6.2 billion) in the fierce race of GMV as compared to the previous year. But the report also adds that in terms of revenue Flipkart ($3.8 billion) seems to be headstrong than Amazon ($3.2 billion) and it continues to grow at a much faster rate (82% versus 47%).

The reports clearly make us believe that Flipkart is an undisputed leader in the segment and has cornered its rival once again. But this is not a complete picture. The company has faced the recent top-level churns of CEO Binny Bansal, HR head and other top level executives due to several reasons (Blame it on Myntra’s below par performance, lack of transparency, rumors about merger of Jabong, Flipkart and Myntra, which may lead to the duplication of roles, recent allegations laid down by Walmart on the co-founder of the company Sachin Bansal, income tax notices served to the owners of the company), reports of its recent acquisition by Walmart.

Will Flipkart lose its sheen against Amazon?

It seems the company is in a very challenging situation and it requires entrepreneurial vigor to compete with Amazon. But as it is said, where there is a will there is a way, the company is leaving no stone unturned to capture the market once again. The company is aggressively investing in its employees by offering them ESOP schemes and is continually trying to build state-of-the art infrastructure( the company plans to invest more than Rs 990 crore in the logistics hub in Kolkata, West Bengal) to improve its supply chain efficiency and to streamline the cost of warehousing by using intelligent transport system. The Investment by Soft Bank in this loss laden company further reveals that the company is trying to keep a pace with the changing environment.

In the end, we would like to conclude that though Flipkart has witnessed enough share of ups and downs in form of poor performance and top-level exits, but it is believed that Walmart acquisition would prove to be a boon for this entrenched company.