Flipkart: Growing Leaps And Bounds
Today Flipkart is being respected for the kind of work it has done to drive e-commerce adoption in India and the way forward for the company is to continue doing that work. The team at Flipkart is now focussed on solving the hurdles that are preventing the next 200 million customers from adopting e-commerce, so it can bring them into the fold as well. The company is using technology in a big way to solve for various problems across categories and functions, be it language challenges or making the supply chain more efficient. By expanding categories that have been traditionally difficult to drive online (such as Groceries, Large Appliances, and Furniture), Flipkart is allowing Indians to make the convenience of e-commerce a regular part of their life. Everything the firm does now is geared towards bringing the numerous benefits of online shopping to disconnected Indians living outside metros without much choice or exposure to organised retail.
While speaking about being included in the BW Businessworld’s MRC list, CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy says, “Flipkart being recognised as the Most Respected E-Commerce Brand is an honour and a pat on the back for everyone who has been a part of this journey. The foundation of our success is the culture of trust that we have built with our consumers, our seller partners and our employees.” Krishnamurthy further adds, “Together we work towards a common goal of building the e-commerce industry in India brick by brick. From the day we started, we have strived to build an open and dynamic work environment that thrives on innovation and creates better opportunities for sellers all across the country, while always keeping our consumers at the centre of the business plan.”
Life at Flipkart is far from mundane: the problems it solves for and the scale at which it does so have drawn a diverse group of thinkers and problem solvers to the company, all of whom are eager to craft creative and meaningful initiatives for India-specific problems. The company’s culture is founded on three basic values that drive everything the firm does from the technology back-end to last mile delivery. “These are: a drive to be audacious in everything we attempt, a bias for action that keeps us on the frontline of the latest developments in the industry, and a focus on the customer, whose benefit is our top priority,” points out Krishnamurthy.
“We found early on that the secret to our success was the relentless work of Flipsters who not only ask questions but are problem solvers, expressive and unconstrained thinkers ready to solve real world problems. Our philosophy ‘fail fast and learn faster’ is what helps us grow. People are focused and audacious, not limiting themselves to what is comfortable. Our collaborative and open environment is another reason why we are such a respected company today. We encourage sharing of information, discussions, group problem solving, and conversation between all levels in the company,” Krishnamurthy adds.
Innovation, passion, experimentation, and a drive to meaningfully impact customers’ lives has allowed the company to change the way India shops on a grand scale. The challenge it faced in the beginning was adapting how the rest of the world shops to India’s unique thinking. The company has witnessed multi-level transformations in the recent past, be it the Walmart takeover or the exit of co-founders and top level employees. Still the company is on its path to implement its core strategies and growth plans.
“We still see the potential for e-commerce to grow in leaps and bounds in India and we are ready to be the ones driving that revolution. Our place on this list today is the best endorsement for the Flipkart way of doing things. We are truly honoured to receive this title and we are committed to making shopping online easier, bigger and better in the years to come,” says Krishnamurthy.
