First a disclaimer. I have been an ardent user of Flipkart for the last few years. For almost anything, I first login to Flipkart before checking the offers on other ecommerce sites. But I am not a blind fan too. If I find a better offer at other site, I do not hesitate to buy from there. So in the past few years I have experienced almost all the ecommerce sites, Snapdeal, Jabong, eBay, Amazon, Myntra......
Thus it was with some anticipation that I was looking forward to the Big Billion Day. I had some things on my mind, nothing big in electronics or household items but mainly lots of personal care items.
I logged in around 10:30 after having seen the ads in the newspapers and had no problems logging in. Maybe because I used the iPad app. I chose the items, saw that a decent discount ranging from 10% to 60% was being offered on all the items( it helped that I knew the MRP of the products) and added 10 items to my cart. After adjusting quantities etc which took a little more time than usual, I paid with my credit card and the act was done. Yes! I did not get the customary email or SMS confirming the order, but the order was showing in the "My order" column.
Post that I did try to indulge by looking at some of the crazy deals like Samsung Galaxy Tab for Rs 1390 or the 16GB pendrive for Rs 1. But just could not find the same. So I gave up.
A bit later while on Facebook and Twitter I started seeing some posts criticising the sale. Basically there were 2 types of posts. One was from disgruntled users who could not login or could not find the deals. And they have the right to be disgruntled. Server crashing or heavy user interface cannot be the reason in today's day and time that a company like Flipkart can offer as an excuse. They created a hype, they built up expectations and they failed to match it with their technology. Even though I did not have a similar experience, I do believe that there were many who did go through a lot of pain.
But it was the second type of grouse that perplexed me. This was some people who were complaining that Flipkart had raised prices of some items in the past few days and was had now reduced them to show massive discounts. And there was an article http://missionsharingknowledge.com/flipkarts-the-big-billion-day-a-pricing-scam/
which actually highlighted this with some impressive charts and examples.
But I have a fundamental question? What did Flipkart gain by increasing the price in the last few days and then decreasing it today? The sole parameter of discount comparison is against MRP. So lets take a hypothetical case......a printer has a MRP of Rs 5000 and it was being sold for Rs 4000 till last week and 2 days ago its price was raised to Rs 4500. Today it is being sold for Rs 4000. Flipkart will shout saying a discount of Rs 1000, not Rs 500, correct? So what's the deal? Why this big brouhaha?
I simply cannot understand the logic of this article or what people have understood about this article. From what I have seen all the prices have been benchmarked against MRP. Unless someone is implying that in the last few days Flipkart increased the price to beyond MRP. Again something which is not allowed by Indian laws and which will be foolhardy for a ecommerce company to indulge in.
There were some more grudges about offers expiring within minutes of the sale opening but that's a fact of life. There were crazy deals on some items and the ads mentioned in small print that these were on limited stock. Don't we face the same the moment IRCTC opens the booking for the festive season travel or holiday season travel? All tickets get booked in minutes. Nothing illegal about that. Unethical, maybe, but show me one ecommerce site or even a brand which does not use the fine print to it's advantage.
So what's the gripe all about? Is it a case of sour grapes? Is it a case of competition employing dirty tricks? I don't know.
What I know is that Flipkart is not a lala Indian company. I have experienced their customer service and systems and they have left no stone unturned in trying to give the customer a good experience. It would be really foolhardy for a company which is in the service sector and already has a turnover of USD billion to resort to such cheap gimmicks.
My only gripe. I am still awaiting email confirmation of my order!
Thus it was with some anticipation that I was looking forward to the Big Billion Day. I had some things on my mind, nothing big in electronics or household items but mainly lots of personal care items.
I logged in around 10:30 after having seen the ads in the newspapers and had no problems logging in. Maybe because I used the iPad app. I chose the items, saw that a decent discount ranging from 10% to 60% was being offered on all the items( it helped that I knew the MRP of the products) and added 10 items to my cart. After adjusting quantities etc which took a little more time than usual, I paid with my credit card and the act was done. Yes! I did not get the customary email or SMS confirming the order, but the order was showing in the "My order" column.
Post that I did try to indulge by looking at some of the crazy deals like Samsung Galaxy Tab for Rs 1390 or the 16GB pendrive for Rs 1. But just could not find the same. So I gave up.
A bit later while on Facebook and Twitter I started seeing some posts criticising the sale. Basically there were 2 types of posts. One was from disgruntled users who could not login or could not find the deals. And they have the right to be disgruntled. Server crashing or heavy user interface cannot be the reason in today's day and time that a company like Flipkart can offer as an excuse. They created a hype, they built up expectations and they failed to match it with their technology. Even though I did not have a similar experience, I do believe that there were many who did go through a lot of pain.
But it was the second type of grouse that perplexed me. This was some people who were complaining that Flipkart had raised prices of some items in the past few days and was had now reduced them to show massive discounts. And there was an article http://missionsharingknowledge.com/flipkarts-the-big-billion-day-a-pricing-scam/
which actually highlighted this with some impressive charts and examples.
But I have a fundamental question? What did Flipkart gain by increasing the price in the last few days and then decreasing it today? The sole parameter of discount comparison is against MRP. So lets take a hypothetical case......a printer has a MRP of Rs 5000 and it was being sold for Rs 4000 till last week and 2 days ago its price was raised to Rs 4500. Today it is being sold for Rs 4000. Flipkart will shout saying a discount of Rs 1000, not Rs 500, correct? So what's the deal? Why this big brouhaha?
I simply cannot understand the logic of this article or what people have understood about this article. From what I have seen all the prices have been benchmarked against MRP. Unless someone is implying that in the last few days Flipkart increased the price to beyond MRP. Again something which is not allowed by Indian laws and which will be foolhardy for a ecommerce company to indulge in.
There were some more grudges about offers expiring within minutes of the sale opening but that's a fact of life. There were crazy deals on some items and the ads mentioned in small print that these were on limited stock. Don't we face the same the moment IRCTC opens the booking for the festive season travel or holiday season travel? All tickets get booked in minutes. Nothing illegal about that. Unethical, maybe, but show me one ecommerce site or even a brand which does not use the fine print to it's advantage.
So what's the gripe all about? Is it a case of sour grapes? Is it a case of competition employing dirty tricks? I don't know.
What I know is that Flipkart is not a lala Indian company. I have experienced their customer service and systems and they have left no stone unturned in trying to give the customer a good experience. It would be really foolhardy for a company which is in the service sector and already has a turnover of USD billion to resort to such cheap gimmicks.
My only gripe. I am still awaiting email confirmation of my order!
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