The Indian e-commerce behemoth, Flipkart, is now set to test the waters of offline retailing. With its first outlet at its Bangalore office going gangbusters, they are now ready to breed more such golden gooses in its Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata offices.
It all started with their employees prodding the company to be able to lay their hands at exclusive Flipkart merchandise which they could flaunt amongst their family, friends and acquaintances. They opened their first offline store by the name of ‘Fliptomania’ at Bangalore which was stocked with whacky yet cool coffee mugs, random stationery products, stickers for digital accessories and even some cute employee feedback walls. These items were fervently lapped by both the Flipkart’s employees and outsiders. However, non-employees formed just 10% of the total fraction of buyers.The company also contrives to unveil ‘Fliptomania’ online for its workforce before they start expanding its physical versions in other metro cities. Lots of requests are also pouring in for more Flipkart branded wearing apparels, like T-shirts and other accoutrements in the form of gifting variety. The deep sense of pride that such stores propagate amongst the employees is one major reason for Flipkart’s revenues spiking through such ventures. Mr. Harish Bijoor, brand expert and CEO, Harish Bijoor Co. believes that by instilling a sense of ownership amongst the workers, the market valuation of a company can rise by a substantial figure of 1.6 or 1.8 times from its actual value.
The point to ponder on now is the consequential impact of Flipkart’s foray in this off the grid commercial setup. Will this goliath step be potent enough to shake the roots of India’s economy and alter the fate of local retailers who house their livelihood in brick-and-mortar shops? The answer is still ambiguous as Mr. Jaitley, India’s Honorable Finance Minister, in his latest budget speech stated that manufacturing units will have the authority to sell their wares through retail conduits which also covered popular e-commerce marketplaces like Flipkart, Jabong, Amazon, YepMe, Snapdeal, Ebay, and Junglee. This move will also prove beneficial for local retailer units of international big shots such as UCB, Puma, Reebok, and Marks & Spencer besides various other global players. This can also mean that by buttressing the online retail space, a robust fillip can be given to the local manufacturing sphere. Despite these bright prospects, not all are happy with the forecast of such economic reforms and many rallies against the same have been staged by many small Indian trader communities. Their pot of luck still seems to be hanging in the balance between the chaos of FDI and online-offline profit driven agendas of such e-commerce biggies.
