Flipkarts Big Billion Day Sale-Then and Now: A Comparison

Abstract

The present paper makes an effort to analyse the reasons and causes behind the failure of Flipkarts Big Billion Day Sale of 2014, its launching year, and since then what changes and efforts it has made to overcome its inadequacies. As soon as the news was out that Flipkart is going to have a major sale on offer, it created ripples of excitement among people of India. And why would not it have? It was the first ever online sale of this magnitude, something that Indian public was witnessing for the first time. There were big discounts on offer which were hard to ignore. Even the people who were not tech savvy were also looking forward to it. It was the talk of the town especially among the employed young generation of India. People started saving their favourite items in the cart for the prices to fall down so that they may purchase them later on the big day. The sale was expected to be a huge success. There was much exhilaration and anticipation all over the country. Everyone was hooked on to it and waited impatiently for the sale to begin. On the day of the big sale, what followed was not expected. This paper attempts to explore the issues which arose in 2014 and deals with the various aspects which led to its failure, what attempts Flipkart has made to overcome its shortcomings and where it stands now in 2016.

Keywords: Flipkart, Big Billion Sale, E-Retailing, Online Business, Ambush Marketing

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