Flipkart finds positivity in hosting flagship BBD sale

Battered by multiple top level management changes and valuation markdowns, Flipkart is now gearing up to host its annual flagship festivities once again with Big Billion Day (BBD) sale, albeit with some major changes.

Suffering losses, Flipkart believes that pulling off a successful flagship sale event is very important for the company if it wants to project the company as e-commerce market leader in India. If the sale is successful, it will also put the valuation markdowns to shame, proving that the company still has some might left to fight off vultures.

The company feels that even after repeated losses, this Big Billion Day sale will help them take the edge over Amazon, Snapdeal or PayTM during their sale events. The core focus of the sale will remain on mobile, electronics, large appliances and lifestyle categories.

Flipkart has had a harrowing experience with its BBD sale after it was probed by the government for alleged violation of retail rules. As a reaction to it, the e-commerce companies were barred from holding large sale events, to stop them from ‘directly or indirectly’ influencing the sale price of goods and services. Flipkart is now exercising greater control over the sale event, so as not to create a similar havoc as the first one.

Instead of holding the sale on consecutive days, Flipkart this time around is internally mulling over the decision to hold the Big Billion Day sale over a spread of multiple days in October, which will give the company greater control over deliveries and customer service.

BBD was earlier planned for 15-16 October but Flipkart has preponed it to the first day/week of October. The company is also contemplating if the first BBD can be followed by medium and small BBDs.

To attract more buyers over to its platform, Flipkart is also planning to introduce a buy-now pay-later scheme for customers, by arranging pre-approved loans with help from lenders. Some vendors will offer users the option to purchase the required products during the sale, but collect the payment someday in the future—much like a credit card payment. Flipkart is in talks with several banks to disburse these loans, which will be underwritten by it.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who recently rejoined Flipkart as the head of category management is again taking charge of planning and executing this humongous flagship sale event.

Last year, Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sales grew 3 fold and amounted to over $300 million as compared to the first year’s $100 million.